Matching Wallpaper
by srufan
Summary: By the time the Sarge retires to teaching at the police Academy, Winnie and Spike are finally together! But how did that happen exactly? Rated M for intimacy and language, begins within 'Keep the Peace pt 1' and moves forward. Enjoy!
1. Officially Missing You

Winnie Camden was having a staring match with her mobile phone and perilously close to losing. All she could think of as she stared at the little screen was the man in the picture on her wallpaper. Everyone in the whole damn department would mock her if they knew she had that picture on her phone so she could see that moment and relive it every day when the things she heard through her headset got to be a little bit too rough for her very human side.

Thankfully most people only saw her lock screen, the one that got her plenty of teasing as it was. Winnie couldn't help being a huge fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas, she'd loved it since she was a kid. When she'd come into the SRU, that love had only grown, particularly after meeting a certain studly Italian who looked like a puppy and had Superman nerves underneath that toasted almond skin who loved it as much as she did. Winie let herself sigh in a short little breath for a moment as she continued to stare at her phone. God what a cutie, she thought, and the muscles discreetly covered up in that photo pushed him from the cutie category straight into hottie territory. He'd shaven that afternoon, too, before the party and slapped on that cheesy Romeo-lover cologne; sometimes Winnie wondered if he wore it for the sole reason to tease her. She'd done that once when they'd gone to the Goose after shift and he'd told her over a picther of Labatt Blue and a hot game of eight-ball he was thankful she had to wear her uniform at work so he wouldn't get distracted by her choice of blouses. Winnie had looked down at herself, and felt a slick rush of lust when she realized the angle she was standing at allowed him to see right down the scoop neck of her lipstick red top to her boobs. She'd cheekily told him that those were the only pair she was keeping tucked in a pocket, only realizing how ridiculously dorky she'd sounded later that night in bed, when sleep refused to come since she could still smell that hideously guido-esque cologne.

The noise of footsteps behind her had her pressing the button to darken the screen so she wouldn't be busted for oogling the picture and it was a good thing she did. She clenched her jaw as she offered up a smile while trying to fight off the blush. Of course it had to be not only the newlyweds but the man of her wallpaper dreams.

'Afternoon Mister and Missus Braddock,' she greeted Sam and Jules. 'What's got you rushing back here so fast, is honeymoon over that quickly?'

'Nah, I just needed to get a few things for my doctor's appointment tomorrow that I left in my locker.'

Winnie blinked, sitting up a little straighter. 'Doctor? Is everything okay?'

'Nothing six months and childbirth won't cure,' Spike teased his friend, elbowing her ribs sweetly.

'Oh!' Winnie forgot her heartache over Spike for the moment, rounded her desk to embrace Jules and Sam with one of her trademark squeezing hugs. Apparently, it was something Jules had forgotten a little when she let out a little 'oof' and patted at her biceps.

'I forgot she's a hugger,' Jules laughed, and Sam slapped Spike's shoulder.

'How about your woman lets go of my woman, there pal?'

'She's not my woman.'

Jules felt Winnie freeze against her, and her arms dropped like a puppet who had suddenly had the strings jerked. It would have gone over the guys' heads but she saw the little light of hurt in Winnie's eyes only another woman would see, noticed the stiffness of her movements as she sat back down at her desk, stuffed her mobile back in her pocket. She turned back and gave Spike a pointed look.

'Well, maybe that's just because you don't try hard enough, young man,' she needled him, then looped her arm through her husband's to haul him towards the locker room before he could be witness to what would surely be The Talk she hoped Winnie and Spike would finally have. Spike watched his friends go, waited until they were out of earshot before turning around and scooting around behind the desk to pull up a chair beside Winnie. He knew it was stupid, dumbass thing he'd said to her and he'd seen how abruptly her cheeriness was turned off.

'Hey, mama, got something for you.' Spike swallowed, noting how Winnie was staying focused on her computer screen. 'Okay, let's make this quick because you can't stay mad at me, I don't like it. I was a jerk for saying that and you are a very pretty and nice lady who will forgive me because I'm cute.'

Winnie wanted to curl her lip in a sneer, then glanced down when she felt his head on her shoulder. The laugh erupted out of her before she could help it - he was doing his 'good doggie' guilty eyes look, where he thrust out his lower lip and batted his big eyes at her. 'Alright, alright you idiot. What do you have for me?'

'This, check it out.' Spike turned his phone to her, sat up straight. 'Photos from the little shindig.'

'The little shindig?' Winnie shook her head. 'I doubt Sam and Jules would appreciate having you call the biggest day of their lives a little shindig.'

'I'm Italian, alright, I know what weddings look like. But..' Spike trailed off, scrolled to the picture of Sam and Jules sharing their first kiss as husband and wife. 'They are so happy so I suppose I can make an exception for something small and tasteful.'

'The fact they are you best friends has nothing to do with it?'

'Well, maybe a little.'

Winnie laughed again, this time feeling no edge of melancholy in it when she caught the light scent of his truly god-awful cologne. Her insides went squishy as memories flooded her from the night of that picture.  
_  
The SRU Christmas party at the Blue Goose, their favourite hangout, had been one of epic proportions. The boss had swung it so they would get to have their night of team together-ness right before the twenty-fourth, when they'd all been given three whole days off to spend with their families. Winnie wasn't sure if she should go along - she wasn't technically part of the team - but when Spike had been giving Leah shit about begging off, he'd pointed to her and said, 'Winnie's coming too, so you can talk to her since Jules and Sam will probably be getting tangled up in the tinsel. Right Winnie?'_

_'Of course,' she'd stammered out, and Spike had winked at her before turning to Leah in triumph.  
_

_'See? Winnie will be there for girl bonding and mocking us.'  
_

_Winnie had held her tongue until Leah had stomped away, opening her mouth to protest to Spike. She'd shut it once more when he'd turned back to her and passed her a strip of bar-tab tickets. 'We're heading there for around nine. Wear something pretty, especially that stuff you're wearing now. You'll be getting free drinks all night. I'll see you later.'  
_

_Winnie wasn't quite sure what to think but she'd gone home the moment her shift was done, and sprinted through the shower, tamed her long black hair into some kind of style. It was a bar party so she decided on tight black jeans and a festive green and silver top with warm but stylish black leather boots. Because Spike had made a point of it, she'd dabbed on a little extra perfume and made sure to put on her favourite lip colour that brought out the fullness of her mouth.  
_

_She was checking her purse for ID and her badge and her off-duty piece when the buzzer for her security door on her apartment. Curious, she went to the intercom, pressed the button. 'Hello?'  
_

_'Hey Winnie, it's Spike.'  
_

_'Spike, what-'  
_

_'You ready to go or what?'  
_

_'Yeah, just gimme a few minutes.'  
_

_'You got it.'  
_

_Puzzled but willing to play along, Winnie grabbed her keys and locked her apartment. When she reached the lobby of her building, she felt her stomach hitch when she saw Michaelangelo Spike Scarlotti in dark jeans, a black leather jacket and a blue and black striped oxford shirt with the top two buttons popped open. He was looking down the street so he didn't see her approach. God he looked tasty, she thought as she shoved open the door.  
_

_'Well hello handsome.'  
_

_Spike turned, felt the spit in his mouth dry up when he saw Winnie was most definitely out of uniform; nothing about the statueesque nature of her body was left up to his prurient imagination anymore. Well maybe a little, seeing as she wasn't wrapped in his arms, in his bed and making love with him. Then nothing would be left to imagine because it would be reality.  
_

_'Hello yourself,' he replied in a voice he was surprised didn't crack like he was going to junior prom and seeing his date for the first time. 'I figured since I ripped you away from Saturday night plans, I might make it up to you by picking you up. Cab's on me.'  
_

_'Oh, Spike-'  
_

_'Call me Mike.'  
_

_'Mike.' Winnie looked at him, tried to hide her curious smile. 'Why do you get called Spike?'  
_

_'Story for a different day.'  
_

_He whistled for a cab, charmed Winnie when he held open the door for her. He gave the directions for the cabbie and then pulled out his phone to take a picture of them. 'There, proof for my mother I do go on dates with girls.'  
_

_'She doesn't think you date?'  
_

_'She thinks I make it up that I'm too busy sometimes to date, other times I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm gay.'  
_

_'Well, you are a fabulous dresser.' Winnie reached over and fingered the leather lapel of his jacket, then sniffed at him like a bloodhound. 'But there's no way you can be gay, not with cologne that bad.'  
_

_'I happen to like this stuff, but that's another story-'  
_

_'For another day,' Winnie finished for him. 'When will that other day be?'  
_

_Spike wanted to say, 'when it's just the two of us and no work' but that would send the wrong message. Instead he winked at her. 'When pigs fly.'  
_

_'Men.'  
_

_They'd bantered like that the whole night, arriving at the Blue Goose squabbling like an old married couple - naturally Ed had to point that out to them but it was hard to take the sergeant seriously when he was wearing fuzzy felt reindeer antlers on his shiny bald head; the left one had a christmas ornament attached and the other had mistletoe. Being a wise woman, Winnie ducked away to find Leah who did indeed look grateful to see her. They spent the evening hanging together because as predicted, Sam and Jules kept on disappearing conveniently and the boys were mostly wrapped up in their own games of pool or darts or watching the UFC fight.  
When Ed came over with a fresh round of what the bartender cheerful called 'Christmas Spirit' - vodka, gin, cranberry juice and raspberry sourpuss - he gave them each a shot of whiskey and followed it with loud smacking kisses on their cheeks. _

_Winnie watched him walk away humming Joy to the World, looked at Leah who was lining up her own shot on the pool table. 'How much has Ed had to drink?'  
_

_'I think he and Sophie got into the Christmas spirit before they got here with a couple shots of homemade wine,' Leah replied in her usual smooth style, let her eyes flick up to the Scarlotti versus Wordsworth and Parker round robin match. 'Spike looks nice.'  
_

_'He does.'  
_

_'He can't keep his eyes off your ass.'  
_

_'That the funny water.' Winnie held up her glass, wiggled it a little. 'Besides, that's the point of wearing jeans like this, to have my ass be noticed.'  
_

_'So...it's bad that a fine son of Rome like that wants to unwrap you for is own little Christmas toy?'  
_

_'I'm no one's toy,' Winnie snapped with a little more force than she meant.  
_

_Leah held up her hands in surrender. 'Sorry girl, meant no offense.'  
_

_'Yeah well...'  
_

_Winnie trailed off when Spike wandered over, appearing to be getting into the Christmas Spirit himself. 'Now why are you two lovely ladies hiding yourselves all the way over here,' he asked, draping an arm over Winnie's shoulders, 'when you could be lis'nin' to me an' Parker comment on how all the men in here are idiots for not making a move on either of you.'  
_

_'Maybe they'd be scared off by you being so friendly,' Leah commented, hiding her smile with a sip of her drink and discreetly picking up Winnie's phone, selecting the camera app. 'Could be they think you two are an item, Spikey.'  
_

_'Ohhh yeah, that's right Leah.' Spike waved her off with a sloppy grin, and pulled Winnie in tight. 'They probably are jealous of me for having such good taste, right?'  
_

_'Something like that.'  
_

_' 'Xactly.'  
_

_'Oops look at that!' Ed the Drunken Reindeer wandered over with a fresh picther of cocktails and stopped so he was standing with the mistletoe hanging right above Winnie and Spike. 'Look, look, lookie-look.'  
_

_'Ah, yeah, no,' Winnie laughed. 'I don't think-'  
_

_Her words were cut off when Spike pressed his lips to hers, nipping at her lower lip with a little bit of clumsiness. Winnie thought her bones were going to melt if he kept it up, or worse, they'd be just like Sam and Jules sneaking off for some private time, only it wouldn't be private because they were trained observers and would see them go. Before she could react, he put his hand to the small of her back and pulled her close, throwing her off balance and forcing her to press her hands against his chest. It was so deceiving the way his uniform his the solid strength of his chest; she could smell his cologne only now it wasn't ridiculous - it was intoxicating.  
Winnie felt her defenses go down, and would have sighed, but Spike was pulling away from her and giving Ed a satisfied smirk.  
_

_'Does that satisfy your voya- vori- your pervy needs, there, Rudolph?' Spike slurred at Ed who just grinned and wandered past them - apparently they were a detour on his way to accost his wife with his own kisses. Spike turned back to Winnie who was looking rather dizzy. 'Hey, you feeling okay?'  
_

_'Never better.' Winnie turned and grabbing her drink, drained the whole thing, then refilled her glass. 'Merry Christmas Sp- Mike.'  
_

_'Merry Christmas Winnie. I gotta take a piss.'  
_

_Winnie made a non-committal noise, watched him go to the men's room. She let her hip slump against the pool table as she steadied her balance. She'd forgotten Leah was nearby until the woman said only one word.  
_

_'Wow.'  
_

_'Wow,' Winnie echoed. 'Wow is...so not the word I was thinking of.'  
_

_'What were you thinking of?'  
_

_'A few little dirty words that have no business coming from me and directed at Spike Scarlotti.'  
_

_'Words like 'bite' 'suck' 'lick' or 'fu-'  
_

_'Leah!' Winnie hissed at her, which only made Leah laugh.  
_

_'Winnie, we're in a bar, not a convent. You should follow him in there, finish off that kiss.'  
_

_'I'm not going to do that, Leah. I'm no one Christmas toy.'  
_

_'Then just remember this moment girl because instead of choosing to go after a hot hot-blooded man tonight, you're choosing to go home with a photo and a memory.'  
_

_'What-'  
_

_Winnie's blood drained when she saw Leah holding up her phone to her, showing her the tasteful and rather artistic shot she'd taken of Spike and herself all but trying to swallow each other whole. _

'Winnie?'

'Huh?'

Spike felt a little sick at the look on her face - she'd gone to a dreamland, probably remembering some kind of great past love as he showed her pictures of Sam and Jules. 'I was asking if you were going to the reception tonight.'

'Yeah, I am. I never miss a chance to go dancing or drink champagne. I'm sorry I couldn't be there, though.'

'Me too.'

Winnie shook her head with a laugh. 'Spike you were there.'

'I mean I'm sorry I you had to miss it too, too.'

'Too, too.' She glanced up, saw the look he was giving her and felt her insides go squishy at the liquid longing in those beautiful eyes. 'I-'

But his named was called out by one of the Team One members and instantly the glands were put in check because they were needed. She called out to Spike to be careful, and once he was gone with the others she pulled out her mobile phone again and looked at her wallpaper, at the moment of pure bliss she'd had with him and asked herself the question she'd asked a million times since that night. Why oh why hadn't she followed through on that kiss?


	2. The Way You Do The Things You Do

To say the day didn't go as planned was a severe understatement. Spike's original plan of convincing Winnie to dance with him at the reception then offering an invitation of champagne and a soak in the jacuzzi in his hotel room was completely shot to hell. Now it was about the priority of life, the containment of explosive devices.

The boss fighting for his life.

When they'd got the all-clear, Spike and the rest of his team double-timed it to Princess Margaret where they waited in the lounge with Marina and Dean to hear news of the four bullets they were pulling out of Greg. He saw Winnie there too, but she just kept on pretending to be fascinated by the latest issue of National Geographic. Spike knew it was a prop - he'd seen his mother do the same thing when his dad was reaching the end.

When Ed had decided to take Dean for a walk, Spike moved to sit in the empty chair beside her; his ass was barely settled when she was getting up without so much as a word to him, digging into her purse for a few loonies for the vending machine down the hallway. He heard the snort from Sam, looked over.

'What?'

'She doesn't want to talk to you bro, and if you try she will burn your ass.'

'Why? I didn't do anything!'

'Maybe that's the point, bro.'

Spike sent Sam a weird look. 'What is that supposed to mean?'

'Well one word springs to mind - mistletoe.'

'Oh for fuck's sakes!' Spike exclaimed, making the others in the waiting area jump a little. He lowered his voice, tried to glare at his friend and colleague. 'If I'd tried to follow through on that swing, I would have struck out big time. 'Winnie Camden isn't a girl you pick up at a Christmas party and take home to bed, she's classy. She needs to be...wooed.'

'Wooed,' Sam repeated.

'Yes, wooed, she needs - deserves - to be treated like the uptown girl she is.'

Sam pressed his lips together, trying to hold back pointing out to Spike that Winnie was raised in suburban Missisauga, a far cry from the richie-rich areas of Forest Hill. It wasn't too hard to do when Winnie came marching back to the lounge, a couple of snack-sized bags of Lays potato chips. She tossed one at Sam, the other at Spike.

'They didn't have ketchup so you'll have to settle for barbecue.'

'Hey I'll take whatever you got.'

Winnie didn't miss the subtext at all - she hadn't been an ace in her pysch classes for nothing - and replied, 'That's all I've got.'

'Oh. Okay.'

Winnie closed her eyes, sighed heavily; she wanted to get up and bolt from that lounge, wanted to go into the operating room and tell them to hurry the fuck up saving the Boss' life so she could go home and find a bottle to empty her brain into. That way she wouldn't have the same horrible waking nightmare stuck on repeat in there, the way it had been since the moment she'd watched Spike walk out the door with the team on that hot call. She sure as hell couldn't get up and leave again right now, even if it was to go to the bathroom, then it would just make her look weak. Instead she put aside the magazine and popped in her earbuds.

Spike watched, saw her close her eyes, give off all the right signals for someone who wanted to be left alone. But he knew Winnie, knew she was the kind to shut down like this when she needed someone the most. He knew the type because he used to be that type until her, when they'd lost Lou. He'd never felt so broken in his entire life as when he'd heard his best friend died and Winnie had been there, pushing bites of food at him, taking away his tear-filled tissues and slipping his fresh ones. She'd gotten him through it in her quiet, classy style and now he had a chance to return that kindness.

All he needed was an opening.

He got it when the doctor with his weary expression came out, his face grim. He'd already pulled Marina and Dean aside to speak privately with them and they hadn't returned - never a good sign. Winnie's hand automatically found Spike's as Sam's found Jules'; Winnie gripped his fingers so tightly Spike nearly winced.

'It was touch and go for a while, and he lost a lot of blood but he pulled through. He'll be in recovery within the hour and should be awake by lunchtime tomorrow.'

'Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.' Winnie chanted it out on an exhale, every tightly wrapped nerve in her body going loose with relief. She vaguely felt Spike's fingers thread through hers and squeeze back.

'Thanks doc. Where are Marina and Dean?'

'Waiting in his private suite with the promise I would come here and tell all of you that when he was awake and ready for visitors, they would call you. Right now the best thing to do is go home and rest so you can be on point to visit your man when he's ready for it.'

'Thanks for everything, doc.' Sam got up, legs stiff, to shake his hand before turning back to the rest of them. 'I think it's probably for the best that we all listen to the doctor and get a little shut-eye. We've still got a hell of a mess to deal with tomorrow.'

'Paperwork.' Spike made a face of disgust. 'Why can't it be like the old west, we lock up the bad guys and ride off into the sunset with the pretty girl?'

'Speak for yourself, Scarlotti,' Sam teased him, throwing his arms over Jules' shoulders as they all headed for the elevator, not miss for a moment how Winnie was still clutching his hand nervously.

It wasn't until they reached the lobby and headed outside that Winnie realized what she was doing, how she was still supposed to be mad at him so she waited until Sam and Jules had disappeared into the TTC station before taking a step away and letting go of Spike's hand.

'Thanks for everything today, Spike,' she told him in a quiet, almost cool, voice. 'I'll see you tomorrow.'

'Hey!'

Winnie had turned to walk down the street to catch the bus to her apartment, turned back at the sharpness in Spike's voice. She rarely heard him speak like that outside the job, hell even outside a call, and it stopped her in her tracks. 'Yes?'

'What the hell is this?'

'What?' she replied, genuinely confused and for the first time in she couldn't remember how long, she saw Spike completely baffled.

'We're having a good time this morning, then we get the call out and yeah, it's a rough day for everyone, and then you freeze me out while we're waiting to hear about the sarge, yet it's okay to hold my hand when you're scared and now it's 'see you at work?'

'Don't push me, Mike,' she said in a tremulous voice. 'This isn't the time or the place.'

'Fine, then we'll go back to your place and make the time so we can hash this out because I'll be damned if we're going to just walk away like this.'

'Fine.'

Spike turned, whistled for a cab and gave the address to Winnie's building on Blue Jay Way. They didn't so much as breathe a word to each other the entire trip over, nor on the elevator ride up to the fourth floor of the building. But the moment Winnie closed her door behind them, Spike turned to face her and exploded.

'What the hell is with you, freezing me out like that today.'

'A coping mechanism. It was easier to be angry with you, than think of the alternative.'

'What alternative,' Spike asked her, eyebrows knit together as he tried to puzzle it out. He waited while she took off her summer-weight jacket, her shoes before she turned to face him. 'What alternative?'

'It could have been you!'

The words exploded out of Winnie's mouth, her heart in a fierce and violent slap at him. She stepped to him, planted her hands on his chest to shove him back. 'When that bomb went off and Donna was in the building, that's all I could think. It could have been you, you big fucking jerk, and then I heard your voice and I was so happy it wasn't you in that building. Then Sam-'

'Winnie.' Spike stepped to her, wrapped his arms around her. He felt her slender, capable hands on his chest again, this time grabbing two fistfuls of his shirt not to shove him away he realized, but to keep him close, reassure herself he was still there. He felt her shake as the sobs began to garble her words.

'I could have lost you today, Mike,' she cried. 'I could have lost you today and the only thing I'd have left of you was this.'

On impulse, she dug her phone from her uniform pants pocket - she hadn't bothered to change before leaving the station - and unlocked her mobile. She held up her phone to show him she kept that Christmas party moment with her every day. 'I haven't had a decent night's sleep since then, because any time I did, whenever I was lonely or sad, that moment would creep into my dreams.'

Spike said nothing for a moment as he studied her phone and for a moment, Winnie wondered if she'd fucked it up royally, that he'd moved on since she'd stupidly told him that she didn't date cops. 'Spike, I know it was just a drunken moment at a party one time, but if you-'

'It wasn't. Not to me.'

Winnie's mouth fell open when Spike held out his phone to her, and she saw the same picture on his own wallpaper. How had he even gotten that picture, she wondered, her jaw working up and down silently as she tried to figure out how to put it into words the maelstrom of emotions swirling through her heart.

'Mike-'

'I knew if I tried to do that without the mistletoe excuse, you'd write me off as a drunk horny cop lonely at Christmas.'

Spike shrugged, rubbed his thumb over the screen. He'd lost count how many times he'd relieved that night, especially after a bad call when he'd gone home alone and wished that when he rolled over in his bed she'd been there to keep him sane. Instead all he'd had was that picture on his phone.

'Mike.' Winnie put her hand to his cheek, her chest hitching as she continued to cry. 'I never write you off.'

It would be so easy to kiss her right now, Spike thought, and the kind of kiss he wanted it to be was not one to be given in a moment when she needed him to be her friend more than ever. So he pulled her towards the little couch in her cramped living room, holding her close when they sat down, rubbing his hands in soothing circles on her back to steady the sobs still wracking her body. When she was quiet and still, sniffling only minimally, Spike rubbed his cheek on the top of her head.

'How often do you do that?'

'All the time.'

'I mean, how often do you let someone see you cry?'

'Never,' Winnie said, shifted so she was able to look him in the eye. 'I stopped letting people see it a long time ago, after my mother said I chose my career so I should just learn to deal with the stress that comes with it.'

'No better person to understand that than another cop.' Spike gave her a squeeze then looked around. 'Which way to the bathroom?'

Winnie pointed down the hallway off the kitchen and Spike tugged her to her feet. She felt her tears dry up in confusion when he walked with her to the bathroom, sat her down on the closed toilet lid and began to run water in her tiny scrap of a tub. 'You're running a bath for me?'

'Yeah, I am, Winnie, because you need someone to take care of you, the way you took care of me when I lost Lou and my pops.'

Winnie let out a little laugh. 'I didn't think you remembered.'

'A lot around that time is fuzzy, but I'd never forget you. Towels?'

'Top shelf in my bedroom closet.'

'Right.' Spike swallowed. 'You get those, I'll add the girlie soap stuff.'

Winnie complied; when she returned a few moment later, the steam rising from the tub smelled like a hot date - Spike had found her stash of shea butter bubble bath and the reason he always said she smelled like a movie star. The sight of him bent over in his jeans and t-shirt, testing the water was so comforting and so arousing at the same time Winnie didn't know quite what to do with herself. Jesus, the man had an ass on him, she mused, she could probably bounce a quarter off his butt. Rather than finding a quarter, she tossed her towel on the lid of the toilet seat, getting his attention.

'I added some bubbles and some of the salts too. They had matching labels so I figured I was in the clear.' Spike shrugged, looked around a little. He knew what part came next so he eased past her. 'I'll let you do your thing here for a moment.'

He stepped out, closed the door and set about looking in her fridge for some ingredients to make her a nice meal; Winnie always had delicious looking lunches with her at her desk. Except Fridays, he remembered, that was fish and chips day. Even her pizza was homemade, and when she'd been generous enough to share a slice with him, he realized she was also a healthy home cook too - she'd used low salt sauce, low fat cheese and naan bread for crust beneath all the veggies she'd piled on. Being an Italian he had to tease her that pizza was not about being healthy and she'd countered that if she ate the real stuff all the time she'd weigh as much as the command-post truck.

'Pizza is her comfort food,' he murmured to himself, noting with the exception of menus for 'Sinbad's Fish and Chips' and 'Slap-shot Sandwiches', her fridge was covered with weekly flyers for pizza. He was scanning the options when he heard the water shut off, followed by Winnie's voice.

'Spike, you there?'

'Yeah,' he called back as he walked towards the bathroom.

'Can you come in here for a moment please?'

Spike blinked. Winnie was by no means an exhibitionist so needless to say, it was a rather odd request. The prurient male half of him was delighted at the idea of getting to see her naked, and the gentlemanly half, the one raised to respect a woman's dignity, had his hand pausing on the doorknob. In the end, the gentleman won out and he opened the door with his hand over his eyes.

'I can't see anything, I promise, Win,' he told her and heard Winnie's laugh in response.

'Spike, it's alright, you can look.'

Spike opened his eyes, peeked between his fingers and chuckled - she'd drawn the shower curtain across so that her body was covered and her head was poking out of the end opposite to the toilet so when he sat down all he could see was her face, and have the rest left once again to his imagination. 'Clever girl,' he laughed, foregoing the throne in favour of sitting on the floor to prop his back against the side of the tub. 'Feel better?'

'I do. I'm sorry for being so bitchy earlier. I didn't realize how angry I was at you.'

'I think I was a handy scapegoat because I'm a B&E guy.'

'Why do you call your bomb diffusion-bot Babycakes?'

'Because like any woman, she gets cross when you disrespect her so I tried out a few terms of endearment to keep her happy and Babycakes fit.'

Winnie laughed, moved her legs in the hot water. Though it was nearly thirty degrees outside even after sunset, the warmth felt good, like an extension of the hug he'd given her. She leaned forward behind the curtain to reach for her razor and shaving cream. She needed something to occupy her hands. 'So...you have a name like that for me?'

'I take it you never notice I call you mama,' Spike replied, ducking his head a little in embarrassment.

'I figured you call me that just like your mother.'

He gave a violent shudder. 'Jesus no, she's Ma but you...you're my sexy mama.'

'I see.' Winnie felt a slick feminine rush through her arms and belly, the same one as when she'd caught him looking down her blouse while playing pool at the Goose. 'Well, mama could use something to eat.'


	3. A Hard Day's Night

'Something to eat, huh? Let me guess, pizza? I saw the small forest of take-out menus on your fridge.'

'Maybe.' Winnie lazily dragged her razor over her leg, swished it in the water; she managed to get three passes before she'd realized Spike had stopped talking. 'Hello?'

'Are you...are you shaving your legs, Winnie?'

'Yeah, why?'

'That's hot.'

She blinked at him. 'Seriously?'

'You're naked in a hot bubble bath which is usually enough for me, but at in the fact your smoothing foam over your legs and being so sweet and attentive to your body, well...' Spike trailed off on a laugh. 'There's only so much fantasy the male body can handle before he has to do something about it.'

'Oh you poor, horny little boy,' Winnie teased him, and Spike groaned playfully, knowing Winnie wouldn't take it just yet as being truly stuck in frustrated arousal himself. 'If this is too much for you, why don't you go order us something to eat from Pizza-Pizza on Lakeshore? Just give them my name and they'll kiss your ass.'

Spike nodded, and when she disappeared behind the curtain to attended to her long milk-chocolate legs, he rose and forced himself to think of whatever could most effectively get rid of the inconvenient erection he was now sporting. He headed for the kitchen chanting 'Brett Lawrie in a thong' the entire time; it did the trick so that he was grimacing from imagining the Jays' third baseman in women's lingerie and his hormones were in check.

Glancing at the speed-dial sheet on Winnie's land-line, he wasn't surprised to see that Pizza-Pizza was number four in her speed dial. He called, mentioned her name and as she'd predicted, they were all but falling over themselves to make him happy. With the order placed Spike returned to the bathroom, heard the swirling sound of water draining. He froze when the shower curtain ripped back, unfroze when he saw her wrapped from the tops of her very beautiful breasts to mid-thigh. It should have relieved him she was more covered up now, but it only served to make him fantasize about whether she might have a sexy little tattoo hidden somewhere or a belly ring. The idea of it had his mouth going dry, his blood pumping a little harder.

'Mike?' she said gently with a smile in her voice.

'Yeah.'

'You're staring at my boobs and you are blocking the doorway.'

'Right.' Spike moved into the hallway, let her pass to the bedroom.

'Go pick out something on my PVR while I put some clothes on.'

Spike groaned lowly, wondering if this was how stirred he got up by the idea of her just how it would be when they got around to seducing each other.

* * *

After they'd finished the pizza and Coke- they agreed anything stronger was a bad idea - and_ Strangers on a Train_, the best Alfred Hitchcock movie ever in both their opinions, Winnie leaned forward from her spot on the couch where Spike had wrapped his arm around her shoulders to turn off the television.

'Thank you,' she tells him softly, smiling gently at him.

'Hey, anytime you need someone to draw you a bath and order pizza to share-'

'Not just that.'

'I know.' Spike gave a lock of her still-damp hair a gentle tug before sliding down her back. 'I promise you I'm careful as a B&E man can be.'

Winnie felt him shift, his arm leaving her body as he went to stand up. 'Mike...stay.'

'What?'

'I don't want to be alone tonight,' she confessed to him, nervously playing with her fingers. 'I...I want you to stay.'

Spike had imagined in his head over and over all the possible ways this moment might finally happen. Not a single one of them had been like this, where she was telling him she needed him to stay with her to...what? Comfort her, protect her, bang her senseless until she forgot everything bad that had happened that day?'

Winnie saw the puzzled look on his face, reached out a hand to pull him to his feet. 'Mike, trust me. We're not going to bed like that yet.'

'Yet?'

Spike watched her grin at him as they headed down the hallway to her room, where he saw the oh-so-welcoming sight of the lake of her bed - queen sized with pale purple sheets and an eggplant purple duvet, pillows in stripes of complimenting banana yellow and leaf green. She tugged her pyjamas off so she was in her bra and panties, the neon pink looked too vibrant for the level of fatigue Spike felt. He stripped down to his boxers, tugging back the covers to slip in beside her; when Winnie snuggled up against him so they were spooning, Spike had to groan again in frustration once more. Her body was a wonder and doing wondrous things to his.

Winnie sighed, closing her eyes as she tried not to laugh at herself. Where the hell had the confidence to get Spike Scarlatti into her bed come from? And the funny part was, they were just there - there was no passionate making out, no animalistic sex, they were just cuddled up together after she'd confessed to him that she'd never gotten over their Christmas party kiss and apparently neither had he. Winnie felt him squirm a little behind her, ease his body away. Confused, she turned over to face him, touched his face in the dark.

'Too close, Mike?'

'No, I just don't wanna embarrass you or myself.'

'How do you mean?'

What the hell, Spike decided. He put his hand on her hip, pulled her tight against his body so she could feel the obvious arousal he felt. Though it was dark and the only light came from the wash of the street light through her small window, he still saw her eyes pop wide; if that werne't enough he also her her very audible and impressed 'oh!' at the feel of him. 'This is not the time or place to get so friendly.'

'Actually it is the right place, but not the right time,' Winnie clarified for him, and leaning in, whispered, 'We're not even at the making out time yet, because we've never truly kissed and meant it.'

'Winnie?'

'Yeah?'

'I meant it at the Christmas party. And tonight...'

Spike trailed off as he brushed the loose strand of her silky black hair off her face, traced the blade of his finger down the side of her cheek before his hand slid to the back of her head and pulled her close. His mouth found hers, hesitant at first, the searching only to find there was no move here, just longing. Longing that had been bottled up for ages and was now bursting forth from him into her. What threw Spike off his rhythm was when she began to kiss him back - that he hadn't anticipated from her tonight at all. She moaned a little into his mouth and her hands had found their way to his back, kneading his skin as one long and firmly muscled leg slid up to hook over his hip to keep him close. When they finally took a break from each other nearly three minutes later, Spike rested his forehead against hers.

'Winona, tonight I really mean it.'

'Oh Mike.'

Spike felt nothing but raw panic when he heard the stifled sob in her voice. 'Shit, it's too soon, isn't it?'

'You called me Winona.' Winnie gave him a sweet, heartbreaking smile. 'No one I've ever been with has ever called me my real name. They always assumed it was Winnifred or Wilhelmina.'

'None of them could access your personnel file to make sure they got it right to surprise you.'

'You snoop.' There was a smile in her voice as she said it, and she kissed him to reassure him before it become passionate once more. God what a mouth he had - that part had been crystal clear in her memory since Christmas. But she hadn't anticipated his hands, his body against hers, how good both of them made her feel.

'Michelangelo,' she sighed as he found his way to her throat with his lips. 'Mike. I'd rather continue this when I have the energy to put the moves on you.'

'Me too,' he replied.

'Wait, those weren't your moves?'

'Oh Winnie.' Pride bloomed brightly in his chest and Spike pressed one more kiss to her lips. 'When I use my moves on you, you'll be lucky to remember your own name afterward. But for now, sleep.'

He twisted so they were spooning once more, and when Winnie linked her fingers with his she brought them to her lips before settling them between her breasts. 'Yeah like I'll be able to sleep after kissing you like that.'

* * *

The call came in early, too early for it to be anything good. That was the first thought that registered with Spike when he heard his phone buzzing on Winnie's bed-side table. He inhaled deeply, breathing in the scent of her hair as he reached past her and saw the caller ID - Sam. _Fuck_, was all he could think, if Sam was calling now, this couldn't be good. Sitting up, he answered quietly.

'Sam, what's wrong?'

'He woke up.'

'What?'

'The boss came around about an hour ago and said he wants the team there.'

'What time is it now?' Spike asked, trying to fight the yawn - he and Winnie hadn't passed out until about one.

'Just after seven. Can you be here in like twenty?'

'Make it closer to forty.'

'Spike, what the hell? Your place is like a fifteen minute walk from Princess Margaret.'

Just as Spike opened his mouth to inform nosy Sam he wasn't at home, Winnie stirred and sleepily asked, 'Who's calling so early, Mike?'

Sam heard it too and instantly changed his tune to his friend and colleague. 'Ah, I get it, you're not just twenty minutes from the hospital. Tell Winnie the Sarge wants to see her too, and we're going for breakfast with Dean and Marina as soon as we get to visit him.'

'How-'

'Dude, please,' was all Sam said before he hung up and Spike had to laugh because when it came to romance, sometimes Sam was a bigger girl than Jules.

Turning back, Spike smiled at Winnie; for a moment he forgot everything and just admired how beautiful she looked, all sleepy and rumpled and mostly-naked. Once more that prurient male half of him wanted to see the rest and the gentlemanly half was reminding him of their conversation last night - most definitely the right place, very assuredly the wrong time for anything more than a good morning kiss. The Boss needed them now, their newly admitted feelings for each other would still be there when they were finished.

'Sam. The sarge woke up about an hour ago and asked to see all of us. Including you. Oh and Sam is on to us already.'

'On to us?' Winnie sat up, hugged her knees to her chest. 'You told him?'

'He heard you ask me who was calling so early and put it together.'

'Clever boy, our Sammie is.'

'Well, it won't be a secret given that we'll show up together and I'll be wearing clothes from yesterday.'

Winnie stayed in bed where she was, admiring the oh-so-manly-man way Spike hitched his jeans up over his hips and that straight-from-her-fantasies behind. She arched an eyebrow when she saw the small tattoo on his right shoulder-blade - two letters, together no bigger than her thumbnail; a letter L in bright green and the letter P in bright blue.

'I didn't know you had any ink.'

'Huh?' Spike twisted, saw her pat her shoulder. 'Oh, that, yeah,' he laughed. 'I got that after that little thing at the evidence depot. Despite what my team told me about reaching out when I was in trouble, I know the only reason I got out of that in one piece was because I had my guardian angels looking out for me. So I figured it was a good way to keep them with me.'

He tapped his finger tip to them each. 'Lou and Pa.'

'That is the sweetest thing I've ever seen.'

'It's not like Wordy or Jules. This is like saying you're a fan of punk rock music because you have all of Simple Plan's albums. They're into the Clash, you get me?'

'I get you.'

It was three simple words, but the way she said them, the feeling in them, Spike knew he could handle whatever happened today with the Sarge, the city, the job, all of it, because Winnie Camden got him. 'You, ah, mind if I grab a shower?'

'You just got dressed,' she pointed out to him.

'So I could go to the shower without having the first time you see me in my naked glory be a casual morning thing.'

'Because I'm wearing a nun's habit right now, yeah, makes perfect sense.' Now Winnie slipped out of bed and crossed to him to give him a suqeezing hug around him middle from behind. She felt his body tense as her fingers moved over his deceptively well-muscled stomach, drum a light little beat in the space between his navel and the snap of his jeans. 'I like you being in my morning routine.'

Spike turned around and this time his mouth was hot and passionate, making Winnie squeak in surprise, then moan in dark delight. She felt his hands slide down her back to her hips, grab her ass to pull her tight against him. Then as quickly as it came, he took a step back, trying not to smirk in base satisfaction when he saw the dazed, starry-eyed look she gave him. He leaned in, whispered in her ear, 'Now that was a move.'

* * *

The forty-minute prediction Spike had given Sam was close to perfect, as they made it to Greg's hospital floor thirty-eight minutes after Sam's call. Without realizing it as they turned the corner into the wing where Greg was staying was, his hand was in hers, squeezing it lightly with every slowed beat of his heart as he saw Dean pacing outside the room.

'Spike, it'll be okay,' Winnie murmured to him, as much to herself, for reassurance. She gave his hand one last squeeze before darting ahead two steps to Dean, touching his shoulders. 'Dean, what's wrong?'

'Nothing, I'm just waiting out here while the doctor checked Dad out. He's, ah...wearing one of those hospital gown things. Nice and breezy,' Dean said on a tired little laugh, and Winnie nodded with a grin.

'Gotcha.'

'Dean-o, where's everyone else?' Spike asked, jamming his hands in his pockets so no one could see them shake in relief.

'Marina is in there with him, and teh rest went to go call Sophie and Wordy, they should be back any-'

'Hey!'

Spike turned around, saw Sam Jules, Leah and Ed walking towards him, all in fresh clothes. It made him feel obvious, like everyone could and would guess he'd spent the night somewhere other than his own bed. But he stayed cool as he could when they approached, looked at the closed door. 'What's up with that, Dean?' Ed asked, jutting his chin at the door.

'Doctor's in with him, I said I'd wait out here since he's flying free.'

'Oh, I get it,' Ed reassured him. 'If Clarke's in the shower at home, I gotta wait to take a leak.'

'I grew up with a sister, talk about bathrooms and privacy,' Sam chuckled. 'It was worth my ass to interrupt her daily routine and Nat hits hard.'

'Good, maybe she can teach our little boy or girl a thing or two,' Jules egged her newly-minted hubby, then cocked her head to the side when the door opened behind them. 'Guys.'

The doctor was one they'd recognized - it was the same surgeon who'd kept Jules going when she'd been hit during the lab lockdown. He gave them each a firm nod. 'The meds are making him foggy but he asked for Team One and Pooh-Bear.'

'Pooh-Bear?' Ed repeated.

'Team One's dispatcher?'

'Oh.' Winnie blushed tomato red as everyone laughed a little. 'I'm Constable Winnie Camden, Team One Dispatcher.'

'Winnie the Pooh.' Dean laughed. 'It was the first time I heard him talk about you, and I said, Winnie, as in Winnie the Pooh. It was one of the first things we had a real conversation over that wasn't about Mom or the divorce or the move back. It was nice.'

'See?' Spike gave her a little nudge. 'Boss always knows who's got his back.'

'If all of you insist on going in together, I'll have to limit it to a five minute visit,' the doctor warned them. 'I can't have my patient overstimulated.'

'If you've ever been on a hot call with Greg Parker, you know a lot can be done in five,' Ed reassured him; because he was Ed, he was the first one in the door, the rest following him like a line of baby ducks.


	4. Call Me Maybe

_Hello all! Thanks for your wonderful reviews! I love hearing your feedback! Also - I realized mid-way through writing this ch I'd been spelling Spike's surname incorrectly so from here on out it will be fixed! Cheers!_

* * *

He was short, was all Spike could think as the team formed a horseshoe around their sergeant's bed, careful not to crowd Marina who was sitting at his right side. It was so easy to forget that of all the men on their team, Greg Parker was 'the little guy', not even clearing five-foot-ten but when he was on the job, he seemed to be ten feet tall and bullet proof. Oh, bad pun, he thought with a little laugh.

'Something funny, Scarlatti,' Sam asked him and Spike shook his head.

'Bad private joke.'

'I think now is a good time to share it,' Leah told him, gave Greg's foot a maternal little rub. 'He'd like that.'

'I was thinking how he's the short guy of us bunch of losers, you never really think about it, because when he's on the job he's ten feet tall and bullet proof.'

'No'...day...'

The whole group froze when they heard the slurred words from Greg, his head lolling from side to side gently. His hand lifted weakly, and Marina caught it in hers. 'What is it, baby,' she murmured; not a single person made a quip about tough-as-nails Greg Parker being referred to as 'baby'.

'Bull...p-poof...no'...day.'

'No, you weren't bulletproof today, Boss,' Ed said calmly, 'but you got the best people fixing you up. Nothing's gonna keep you down.'

'Tea?'

'You thirsty?' Marina asked, and when Greg nodded, she gave him the lidded cup with the straw, let him drink. 'Iced tea. The doctor said it's good for him to have the sugar.'

'Tea,' Greg repeated groggily, 'Tea...one.'

'Team One is present and accounted for,' Sam told him in a voice thick with emotion.

'Pooh...bear?'

'I'm here too, Sarge,' Winnie assured him.

'S...pike, when y'gonna...gonna...'vince 'er...break her...her rule?' Greg asked with as much energy as he could muster.

'I'll get right on that, Boss,' Spike replied, his cheeks bright red, 'right after we finish cleaning up the mess from the terrorist who tried to blow our city to hell and back.'

'No, no, no.' The protest should have sounded childish but to them, it was just the Boss sounding very tired. 'This...our...miss...sion 'day...Tea'...one...we...we no...lettin'...pip..er...slide.'

'Oh, the paperwork won't slide, boss,' Leah assured him; she'd spent time with those in Haiti after the earthquake and had become adept at interpreting the garbled messages of those trying to speak when they had to get something important out. 'We'll make sure it all gets done.'

''Kay...fee'...Dea'o...boy...nee'...eat.'

'His tab's on me, Boss,' Ed assured him, then flicked his eyes to Marina. 'We'll make sure your woman gets a bite too.'

'Mee...'tay...' Greg protested weakly before sliding under the pull of drugs once more. Marina kissed his brow sweetly.

'I'm right here, Greg.'

'We'll bring you something from Fran's, Marina,' Ed reassured his friend, and wasn't surprised when Sam volunteered to stay too.

'Jules, our bump needs snacks. I promise if anything happens, good or not good I'll call,' he reassured her.

Jules nodded, and Sam gave his wife a kiss before the group left with murmurs of good wishes to Greg and Marina. He waited until they were gone before pulling up a chair on the other side of Greg. 'Hey Boss?'

'I think he's out,' Marina told him, then gave a gentle smile when Greg's fingers flexed weakly in hers. 'Maybe not.'

'Greg, I just wanted to tell you, when I called Spike this morning to let him know you're ready to kick ass and take names, he wasn't at home.'

'No?'

'No, I heard Winnie's voice on his phone too. So I'm pretty sure it's safe to say she broke her rule.'

'Yea. 'At's...'at's our...boy.' Greg tried for a smile and Sam patted his shoulder gently.

'But we'll keep it quiet as we can since they deserve that, just like me and Jules did.'

'Go' it...kee...peas...'

'We'll keep the peace,' Sam assured his sarge as Greg drifted out once more.

* * *

'So is this how you pictured your honeymoon breakfast, Jules?'

'Actually, Ed, it is.'

'Chilli fries for breakfast?'

Jules grinned, shrugged as she shook pepper over the bowl of chilli cheese fries; the rest had ordered sandwiches or omelettes but baby wanted junk food, it seemed. 'Ed, Sophie's been pregnant twice, you know how us preggos get funny cravings.'

'Us preggos. Who'd have ever thought you'd hear those words so happily from Jules Callaghan's mouth,' Leah teased her, digging into her own huevos rancheros omelette.

'Hey, I'm surprised it took this long,' Spike teased her, cramming in bites of his cheddar-bacon waffles, 'what with the way you and Sam-'

'Like you're one to talk, Mister Italian Stallion,' Jules fired back at him, missing how Winnie blushed a little at the friendly jab. 'What was that number you were up to at last check?'

'Sixty two,' Ed supplied, and Winnie hastily swallowed, grabbed for her grapefruit juice. 'And that's the ones he's owned up to.'

'Uh, by my count it was around twenty-six, there you dyslexic fool,' Spike replied, trying to imagine the thousand deaths Winnie must have been dying at hearing this over bacon and eggs with the team. 'And how is it we got onto the topic of my personal life when we're supposed to be keeping it clean for the minor here.'

Spike poked his fork at Dean, who was nearly as red as the ketchup on his homefries. Thankful he'd successfully diverted their attention, Spike reached into his pocket and made like he was checking his text messages, deleting this or that when he was really sending a message to Winnie. Thank God for modern technology - that little gaffe by Ed would be fixed right away.

Winnie felt the vibration of her phone in her pocket; she had to check the instinct to inspect the message right away - years of habit from being in the SRU - because that was a surefire way to get found out. It didn't take a genius to realize that Spike was playing with his phone and she was now getting a message, and connect the dots.

She clued herself back in to the team teasing Dean about thinking like one of them already with his move to get fresh clothes to his dad at the emergency triage space in the arena, politely excused herself, blaming it on too much coffee on the ride to the hospital. Once in the ladies room of the diner, Winnie pulled out her mobile and checked the new message.

_From: Mike S.  
Subject: So sorry  
Didn't think someone else would have to have that convo for us :( For the record my number is really only 18. _

Winnie gave a little laugh, then sent him back a message - _For the record, my number is only 11 and 12 has always been my lucky number_.

She thought of something else, something Greg had managed to joke about even when he was swimming in the fog of hospital grade surgical drugs. _And don't even think of calling me Pooh-Bear unless you want to sleep on my couch _

The door opened and Winnie jumped as though she'd been caught making out with Spike in the diner bathroom. Her nerves didn't ease when she saw it was Jules all but swaggering in and staring her down.

'Rule-breaker,' was all she said with a little hint of a smile.

'What are you doing in here?' Winnie spluttered, then cleared her throat. 'I mean, how did you give them the slip?'

'Oh please, when it comes down to it, those guys are all still guys and can't always tell when a girl is faking it. I told them I felt some morning sickness coming on,' she clarified off of Winnie's baffled look. 'So...Spike spent the night.'

'Not like that. I mean...he did stay with me, but there was no-'

'Winnie, I know. Trust me, the baby hormones-' Jules circled her finger in the air '-they do something to your radar and you know with one look who is or isn't getting physical.'

'Jules, listen-'

'Winnie I'm about the last person who's going to bust on you. I just thought I'd tell you that it would probably be a little easier on you and Spike than it was on me and Sam because you're in Dispatch and he's on a field team.'

'Really? That's why you left your chilli cheese fries?'

'Well...' Jules fought not to look smug. 'Why should Sam and Spike get to share all the dirty details because they're guys? I've heard rumours he's got a pretty hot bod under all that gear. Rumours true?'

'And then some. Oh, and...' Winnie leaned in closer to make sure none of the bathroom ghosts overheard them. 'He's a cuddler.'

'So is Sam,' Jules replied and they shared a conspirator's giggle like two teenagers talking about their footballers in the high-school bathroom. 'Who knew?'

'I had a feeling. I mean, a guy who calls his bomb-bot Babycakes, that's a cuddler.'

'I'm glad you broke your rule for him, Winnie. He's one of the best guys I know. He watches out for my guy after all.'

'Mike's the best.'

Jules cocked an eyebrow, let the grin widen. 'Mike, is it?'

'Oh, shut up.'

'This is gonna be fun.'

'I figured you already knew, since it was Sam who called Mike this morning. What? That's his name,' Winnie protested lightly when Jules snickered.

'We're used to him as little bro Spike, not Mike the boyfriend.'

Boyfriend. The word hit Winnie like a laser blast. Is that what he is to her? Or are they now just seeing each other? If they're just seeing each other, does that mean he wants to keep his options open because of her stupid rule? 'I-'

'Winnie, if it makes you feel better, Sam told me this morning we get to call you Spike's girlfriend now.'

'Did Spike say that to him?'

'Of course not,' Jules scoffed, opening the door, 'but my husband is no dummy and neither is your man.'

'My man.' Winnie pondered this as they walked back to the table, gave Jules a smile.

'Your man.'

'Damn right. Feeling better now?'

Jules realized they were within earshot of the table, played her part. 'I am, thanks. I guess Mom was right, better out than in, huh?'

'Plus now there's more room for stuff the baby actually wants to eat,' Spike told Jules; he caught a whiff of the lingering shea butter scent from Winnie's bath on her skin and swallowed tightly. He allowed himself a small moment of indulgence, and leaning past Winnie as she sat down, pretended to be sniffing at the whole-wheat chocolate chip pancakes she was having. 'Smells good, Win, you gonna share a bite?'

'You are such a mooch.'

'Tradesies?'

'Since when do you say 'tradesies?' Ed squinted at him as he crammed in the fluffy western omelette. He'd cut out his own tongue before admitting it was the one thing Sophie didn't make better than anyone else. 'Nah, forget it, it's Spike. He's our baby boy, he can get away with it.'

'I'm younger than Jules by four months,' Spike reminded Ed, casually sliding his skillet bowl of fried potatoes, bacon, sweet corn, cheddar cheese and gravy for Winnie's whole-wheat chocolate chip pancakes so smoothly even Jules' mother-hawk eyes barely noticed the trade. 'How about we make you feel old and say I'm closer to your son's age than yours.'

'Crock of shit,' Ed informed him around a mouthful of peppers and eggs. 'Winnie, stop playing with your phone, everyone in the world worth talking to is right here.'

'Minus my hubby,' Jules pointed out.

'And my parents, the Red-Cross workers in Haiti,' Leah added.

'And the Boss and Marina, Dean, Sophie, Clarke, Isabelle,' Spike continued, knowing Ed would roll his eyes.

'Whatever, it's bad table manners.'

'Yes Dad,' Winnie teased him, and tucked her phone back in her purse. She knew Spike had his phone on silent when none of his silly off-the-clock ringtones sounded, but his saw him shift a little in his seat and knew her message had gone through. 'There that better?'

'Thank you sweetie,' Ed sing-songed back to her, making Winnie snort.

'I'd like a little toast here.' Spike tapped his knife against his water glass. 'To the Boss, and the new normal. Jules you'll be a great mom.'

'To the new normal,' the others agreed, and tapped juice glasses together; lost in the privacy of the crowd, Spike sent Winnie a wink with a little nod to let her know he knew exactly what she was up to.

* * *

The moment in the diner turned out to be a high point - they didn't have a moment's peace or privacy until the end of the day - from the diner it was back to the SRU for the rest of the paperwork. Winnie, though she wasn't a Team One member, knew the filing system better than any of them since she always dealt directly with the Sarge for that post-incident stuff so she knew she would be welcome.

By four-thirty, they'd burned out on all the files and forms to be done and even then, it took all four SRU teams plus Pete and Syd helping out the way she was before they have to call it a day, lest they become their own subjects because of one more damned stack of triplicate papers for Holloran. Spike had to fight the pout that Winnie had left for the ladies room at that exact moment because he had a feeling he knew what was coming - the usual post-briefing bitch-and-pitch, who wanted to do what now that the heavy lifting was done.

'I am so not about work tonight,' Sam sighed as he leaned back, scratched his belly.

'Don't you have a little thing called a honeymoon to worry about,' Leah asked him pointedly.

'They're not leaving until next week,' Ed said, finishing off what was sure had to be his fourth double-double from Tim Horton's. 'What are we thinking, Goose or home to our loved ones?'

'Home,' Spike replied quickly, maybe a little too quickly; Jules didn't miss it either and flicked her eyebrows at her friend.

'You seem pretty eager to get out of here tonight, Spikey. You got a hot date or something?'

'Hot, most definitely, date, don't know if you'd call at-home movie night with margaritas and hot wings a date.'

'You're at the at-home stage of dating already?' Jules made an impressed face. 'Must be headed somewhere if you're counting that as a date-night.'

'Oh, so it's serious then,' Sam said, all mock-severity. 'How long you been keeping your hottie on ice from us?'

'Guys it's not like that-'

'So she's not hot or you're just too chicken shit to tell us you got a live one?' Ed asked him, joining in with glee; he'd missed this part apparently when he was involved with his own family and making sure Clarke was okay. 'How long has this been going on?'

'It's pretty much completely brand new I'm guessing.' Jules pursed her lips to try and hide the smile but to no avail. 'Otherwise he wouldn't be blushing like a virgin on prom night.'

'Okay, first off, I was not a virgin on my prom night-'

'Overshare,' Sam piped up.

'And two, why am I in the hot seat over my girlfriend, huh?' Spike pronged his fingers up at Sam and Jules when everyone made 'ooo'-ing noises over the use of the word 'girlfriend'. 'I seem to recall these two getting a little privacy when they hooked up.'

'They were sneaking around because of protocol,' Leah reminded him.

'Whatever, point is, why do I get teased like little baby birdie over her?'

'And who is her, anyways, Scarlatti?' Really enjoying it now, Sam crossed his arms over his chest, the late afternoon sun winking off his new wedding ring. When he saw Spike gulp a little at that one, he felt a stir of pity for his friend. It was gone the moment Spike's phone, still on the conference table, went off and Ed made a Superman dive for it two seconds before Spike could scoop it up.

'Ooo, check this out, it's Winona calling. And she's got a little red heart next to her name too.'

'Oh, Winona, is that her name, Spike?' Jules asked with bright delight; she'd known Winnie for ages and hadn't ever heard her use her whole name once.

'Let's find out Jules.' Ed wiggled the phone, slid his thumb over the screen to answer the phone and make Spike squirm, see if this mystery lady of Spike's could handle the teasing from his comrades. He cleared his throat and spoke in a crystalline voice. 'Spike's phone, how can I help you today Winona sweetheart?'

'Ed? Why do you have Mike's phone?'


	5. Accidentally In Love

Ed, who had been walking back and forth in short paces and rubbing his head, stopped; he saw Spike trying not to laugh at him now, as were Leah, Sam and Jules. 'Winnie? That you?'

'Yes, it's Winnie.'

'Oh shit,' he breathed, half to himself. 'Yeah, I'm, ah...I'm gonna pass you to Spike now, honey.'

Ed handed Spike the phone and he had to give the man props for his coolness as he spoke to Winnie.

'Winnie, hey, sorry about that,' Spike apologized. 'The guys decided it'd be fun to mock me until I turned purple.'

'Let me guess, you got asked why you were so eager to leave, right?'

'Yes, yes I did, however, I think the joke's on Sergeant Lane right now,' Spike said, watching how Sam and Jules, even Leah were all trying to hold it together 'Meet you out front?'

'No, I think I'll stop by the briefing room now.' Winnie gave a half-laugh. 'Guess that whole privacy thing Jules and I talked about this morning is kinda gone, huh?'

'Not necessarily. See you in a few.'

Spike clicked off; the moment he had Sam and Jules burst out laughing. Both turned bright red and Spike swore he saw tears leak from the corners of Sam's eyes.

'Oh, Edward Lane, I knew sooner or later that was gonna come back and bite you in the ass,' Jules giggled.

'At mine and Winnie's expense,' Spike pointed out, curing Sam of his Code-Red level laughter.

'Dude, you were still in bed with her when I called this morning. I'd say that's a giveaway right there.'

Ed said nothing at first, feeling like a righteous jackass. He liked Winnie very much in a little sister kind of way, knew how much Spike liked the woman. More, he certainly didn't like the feeling of knowing he'd embarrassed them so publicly. 'When did this come about?'

'Last night, after we left the hospital.'

They all looked over, saw Winnie standing in the doorway of the briefing room looking about as happy as someone who'd just gone bare-ass first into a cactus patch. Before she could say anything else, Ed crossed to her and gave her a squeezing hug.

'Winnie, I'm so sorry. I I'd known it was you, I'd never have done that.'

'I know Ed.' Winnie patted his back, then sent Spike a warm smile as she moved over to stand beside him, hesitantly slipping her hand into his. 'It's still completely brand new to us both, so pardon us for not announcing it on Chum FM this morning.'

'Well you know none of this-' Sam pointed at their linked hands '-can go on while on shift right?'

'Considering the state of things today, and the fact that both Sergeant Lane and my...ummm...'

'You can use that big scary B-word,' Leah reassured her gently, flashed her wide trademark grin as she teasingly tapped Spike's shoulder while walking past. 'This one already used the big scary G-word.'

'My boyfriend-' surprisingly, the word hadn't stuck in her throat like she thought it would '-work together, I'm thinking there will be plenty of chances for him to be teased on tomorrow's regular call, yes?'

'Oh yeah,' Sam and Jules chorused, Sam adding, 'you two crazy kids get on out of here, let us old married folk gab about old married shit.'

'Okay, new rule, no swearing off the job around the baby,' Jules told him; it was enough to occupy Ed and Sam, letting Spike and Winnie head out. They had indeed let go of hands to walk from the briefing room out the door but the moment they were in Spike's pick-up truck, the ignition switched on, his hand covers hers over the gear shift.

'Well, that could have been worse,' Winnie laughed. 'They could have bugged up my bedroom and eaten popcorn while they watched us make out.'

'Winnie, I'm so sorry,' Spike laughed right back. 'I- You know how we are.'

'I do, it's why you're my favourite team. Although I think getting to hear your voice over my head set helped with that part. You said our right to some privacy isn't completely shot though. How the hell will that work?'

'Because once he gets over his shock, Ed will be the first to say our happiness comes first and we deserve some privacy for it. For now, though...' Spike trailed off as he checked for traffic, eased his way onto University to head for Beverly Street. 'My happiness depends on how much you like hot wings.'

* * *

'Spike, you okay over there?'

Winnie had to gape a little at Spike when he set down a wing mid bite and pressed his knuckles to his eyelids. 'Oh God, I think my eyes are bursting into flames,' he groaned, making her laugh. 'Did they gave us volcano sauce or what?'

'Nah, these are the medium ones. Volcano wings, you have to sign a waiver for them.'

'Christ.' Spike shook his head, glad they'd ordered more than just that particular flavour from Wild Wing, especially considering when he had a sexy, leggy brunette half-way to mocking him about his ability to handle the heat. Far too many double entendres and 'that's what she said' jokes to be had at his expense. He licked sauce off his thumb, then downed half his water in a single gulp while she continued to munch.

'How are you still eating those?'

'Must be that one-eighth Mexican blood in me.'

'Mexican?'

'Well, my family is a melting pot of all different cultures but the strongest would be the Dutch and Dakota parts.'

'Melting pot in my family means someone from Naples married someone from Florence,' Spike laughed, dragging a carrot stick through a little puddle of bleu cheese dressing.

'How come you're an only child, Mike?' Winnie asked as he topped off her margarita glass; he'd remembered how she liked them from the Team One May long weekend party - blended with no salt. 'I always hear you talking about all these cousins but no brothers or sisters, and talking about nephews, too.'

'My cousins who are my age have kids and they call me 'zio' instead of cousin. After I was born, the doctor told my ma her body wouldn't be able to handle carrying any more kids to term. She'd had three miscarriages before I came along. It's why they named me Michaelangelo David.'

'A miraculous masterpiece,' Winnie mused with a dreamy smile and Spike chuckled warmly.

'Well, it turns out they were right, huh?'

She laughed, the sound like music to his ears and Spike took a sip of his margarita. He watched her licked a dribble of wing sauce from the corner of her lip with her tongue, and he needed another sip because his brain just would not get out of the gutter seeing her doing simple things like that.

'What about you, then, Constable Camden,' he replied, crunching another carrot soaked in bleu cheese. 'Does your melting pot including enough siblings for three-on-three road hockey?'

As her mouth was full, she held up two fingers so Spike filled in the gaps. 'Two siblings? Older? Younger?' At her nod, Spike recalled that her parents had been split up since she was about eighteen. 'Bro or sister or one of each?'

'Do you realize you almost profiling me?' Winnie told him with a cheeky grin as she swallowed the last of her wings.

'Oopsie.'

Winnie's heart went to butter - he was a B&E expert for one of the country's most elite crime-fighting units, a guy who made his living dismantling explosive devices and just said 'oospie'. How was it possible not to be nuts about him? 'I have two younger siblings. My sister Shannnon is a surgeon in North Carolina, and my younger brother Aaron from my dad's second marriage is going into grade nine in the fall.'

'Tell him don't worry about being scrawny or whatever, girls find all types sexy these days.'

'Oh, Mike!' Winnie made a face. 'He's my little brother, girls aren't supposed to find him sexy at thirteen.'

'As someone who was a thirteen year-old-boy, trust me Win, we want girls to look at us. Of course.' Spike rose to deposit the contents of the wing bone-zone into his compost bin beneath the sink. 'When we grow up, that doesn't change, we just figure out what kind of girls we want to look at us. Like Sophie and Ed.'

'Yeah, I figured he'd be the kind to go for some skinny hot blonde when I first met him. Then I met Sophie and couldn't believe it, but they fit so perfectly together.'

'Exactly. Then you have Sam, who you assume would be chasing naughty librarians or schoolteachers. He ends up married to another cop.'

'And what about you?' Winnie's eyes shone with interest as she helped him tidy up the table. 'What kind did you go for in your misspent youth and days as a lowly rookie uniform?'

'No-brainers, sad to say.' Spike shook his head. 'I was a weird kid, a science nerd in high school who liked to blow shit up so needless to say I didn't have a lot of girlfriends who weren't study buddies. I mean, I had my share of girls but-'

'I get it, keep going.'

'Anyways, I'd say to girls out in the clubs I was a cop, girls who'd never look at me twice and suddenly I'm Mister Sexy. It went to my head a lot, until it happened once too often and I realized they weren't interested in me just my job. So I changed up my game a little and started getting better quality. Then I met you and that changed things up even more.'

Winnie, who'd been loading up his dishwasher, turned to look at him standing by the sink. 'Oh?'

'Yeah, because then it was about, I wanna find a nice girl to settle down with, like Winnie and it suddenly dawned on me, why _not_ Winnie?'

'Isn't it a little early in the game to have this conversation?'

'For my ma, 'a little late' to talk about this was eight years ago,' Spike replied, making her laugh again. He crossed to her as she closed up the dishwasher, and braced his hands on the counter so she was bracketed by his arms. 'I also forgot to do something when we left the station.'

'Oh?'

'Yeah. This.'

Winnie closed her eyes when his lips met hers, sweet and tender like they'd been the night before, yet that single lazy kiss stirred her just as much as that one from the morning. She made a little 'mm' sound, hands fluttering on his shoulders while his stayed on the counter, making Winnie realize how much she wanted them on her body. When Spike pulled back, saw the look on her face of dreamy arousal he winked at her. 'That's another move.'

'You're such a jerk getting me all twitchy like that, Mikey,' she told him, then like she flipped a switch she didn't know she possessed, went full vixen on him and purred in his ear, 'Just remember that payback is a bitch.'

'So noted. Dessert?'

'Too full.' Winnie patted her belly. 'Walk?'

'Sounds great.'

They headed out of the house, enjoying the sunset over Saint George Street as they walked north; it took Spike until they'd reached the Earth Sciences building of U of T to realize where they were walking. He knew Winnie well, but now that he was getting to know her in a far more intimate light realized how ever cool and together she was on the job, she still had that obligatory 'women are crazy' gene. Hell, he'd be worried if she didn't have one.

'You just said you're not in the mood for dessert.'

'Yeah, but it's a twenty minute walk from here to Greg's Ice Cream so that means the walk there will burn off the being-full feeling and it's perfect timing for dessert.'

'I have ice cream in my freezer,' Spike pointed out.

'You also bought the wings and rented the movie. Dessert's on me.' Winnie took his hand, then felt her muscles go weak when he leaned over and murmured in her ear, 'I can think of a few others ways to be thanked for a delicious meal later.'

'Naughty.'

'Which would make you nice?'

The way he lingered on the word had a shiver going up Winnie's spine, so she dished it right back to him as they stopped for the crosswalk lights. 'Well, if you think I've been naughty...'

'Yeah?'

Winnie stretched to her tiptoes to whisper in his ear. 'Maybe you should spank me.'

Spike closed his eyes, let out an audible groan. 'Winona, you are such a tease.'

'Like I said, Mike, payback's a bitch.'

Winnie smiled as they continued north towards Bloor, just now wondering if the flirtations and innuendos at this stage was their way of easing over that border from friends into more. She wanted him, no question, but there would be adjustments to this whole new exciting and scary world with him. For better or worse, the only thing she could think of was a total cliche - was he feeling the same way?

Spike felt her fingers flex and tense in his, could read her nerves a mile off and wondered if it was totally obvious how clumsy he felt with her right now. He was the B&E guy, he never lost his cool when it came to scary situations but when it came to matters of the heart he was about as cool as an oven in Hades. Even holding her hand made him feel like a teenager on a first date all over again. The funny part was, he liked those nerves, he liked the rush he got from feeling his sweaty palm against hers. He wanted her in bed with him, but more, he wanted exactly what they were doing, the teasing and the conversation after a meal while they took a walk just to take a break from the job.

He lifted their joined hands, kissed the back of hers. 'Winnie?'

'Yeah?'

'It's our first real date. My ma raised a gentleman so like hell I'm letting you buy dessert.' When she smiled at him, Spike felt like a king.

The fun part of Greg's Ice Cream, in Winnie's opinion was that it felt like a pool-side bar at a resort in Cuba, only the patrons were all ages and no one slipped off their stool in a drunken effort to save their daiquiri from ending up in the water.

'Water, water everywhere,' she sighed as she scanned the menu of twenty different flavours, the line inching forward one happy customer at a time.

'What no healthy, low-fat options for you nature-nut?' Spike asked as she stared longingly at the board with all its delicious options.

'No, I don't know which flavour to choose so the others don't feel like I'm playing favourites.'

The girlish nature of her decision making process charmed Spike. 'Okay, I'll make this easy on myself. I'm getting the trio sampler of chocolate, butter rum and- oh, they have bacio here? Nice!'

'You're picking all the safe flavours.'

'Says who?' Spike gave her ribs a poke.

'When we were kids and came to the city to go to the Ex, Dad brought me and Shannon up here so we would get to ride on the subway. We always got the full dozen sampler cones so we coudl have as many flavours as we could.' Winnie smiled as she thought of the memory. 'Mom always got moose tracks, and Dad loved maple walnut so Shannie and I picked the other ten. Shannie is like you, she got chocolate five different ways.'

Spike thought briefly of pointing out how he'd chosen one flavour of chocolate out of three, but the look on her face as she reminisced of happy family memories was too beautiful to break up with his inane finickiness. 'Bit of a choco-holic, huh?'

'I send her Cadbury once a month because they don't have it in Charleston.'

'Let me guess, you'd go for all the fruity ones, like strawberry banana and tropical punch?'

'They are contenders,' Winnie replied with a considering smile. 'There's also creme brulee and raspberry cheesecake chunk, nanaimo bar and bear claw, and a mango-blackberry tiger-tail, key lime pie-'

'No wonder you went kooky at Christmas when your secret Santa gave you a Yogen-Fruz gift card.'

'I'm still trying to figure out which one of you cool kids gave it to me.'

'Hey.' Spike gave her a friendly little nudge. 'That's a 'we' not a 'you', Winnie. You're one of us.'

'Hi there, what can I get for you?' The counter attendant was bright as a sunflower and Spike juiced his smile up a little on her.

'We-' he pointed to himself and Winnie '-will take one of your dozen baby cone samplers.'

'Sure.' She disappeared momentarily to get the special holding box; in her absence, Winnie gave him a look.

'You are smooth, Constable Scarlatti.'

'You are an ice cream junkie, Constable Camden.'


	6. Touch Me

They were walking back down Spadina towards College, Spike in charge of the box while Winnie nibbled on her vanilla cone, and Spike knew it was time to finally do something about these damned urges he was getting around her as he watched her delicately graze her tongue over the soft frozen treat. All he could think of was her using it on his-

'Mike, careful, you're gonna drop the box.'

'Sorry,' he apologized hastily, 'can I try one yet or do I have to wait until home since I'm babysitting the box?'

'Chocolate. Get the boring ones out of the way,' she informed him.

'Yes ma'am.'

Spike grabbed the miniature cone, caught it just in time to have a dribble of melted ice cream run down the vee between his thumb and forefinger. He gave a little moan of delight and Winnie felt her blood thrum at the noise. They most definitely needed to get back to his place or she'd have to arrest them both for public lewdness.

'Good?' she asked, hoping her tone was nice and light.

'Very. Hey!'

Spike's yelp was one of mild indignation when Winnie poked the itsy-bitsy tasting spoon into one of his cones and he playfully batted at her fingers. 'Those are mine,' he informed her, pointing at them.

'I know, I'm just making sure you have good taste in ice cream. That's a key requirement for any man of mine.'

'Okay, Shania. Then I get to try...' Spike poked his own spoon into her key lime pie one. He groaned a little, licking both sides of his spoon. 'Oh, man, that really does taste like pie.'

'Right? Which one next?'

'That one.'

The game continued all the way back to Beverly Street, the whole concept of 'his and her' cones gone right out the window. By the time they were back in Spike's apartment, both were a little daffy on sugar and itching to get their hands on each other. Spike knew as much as he wanted to touch and taste and pleasure her, it was still so new to them both he didn't want to freak her out with the intensity of what he felt already. He got the impression that Winnie was feeling the same thing, as he watched her look around his modest space to decide where would be the more appropriate place to finish off their half-sampled cones.

'We still have seven to go,' she told him. 'Choose your weapon.'

'I have to go with- oh dammit!' Spike sighed as he picked out the butter-rum cone, ended up with the majority of its remains on his shirt. It wasn't an accident in italics, he really was that embarrassingly clumsy with food. Without even thinking of it, he stripped off his shirt, went to toss it into the wash basin in his laundry room. 'Sorry about that Winnie, I'm a horrible slob when it comes to food. I'm surprised I didn't end up with wing sauce all over me earlier.'

'Uh-huh.' Winnie vaguely heard him talking, couldn't take her eyes off his body. Damn, damn, damn what a sexy man he was; this thought was railroaded by a single word - _mine_.

'Winnie?'

'Yeah?'

'You want to finish those off?' Spike pointed to the ice cream, trying to hide the proud grin that he'd caught her staring at him. He knew he was in shape, but the way Winnie was staring at him, like he'd been carved out of marble by an Italian Renaissance master made him feel like a rock star.

'Oh, right, uh, maybe they should go in the freezer for-' The thought went unfinished as Winnie stumbled a little on her footing and the box in her hands ended up soaking her front entirely, from neckline down as it dripped coldly against her skin. 'Oh shit! Shit, shit shit!'

'Looks like another one for the wash bin, huh?' Spike took the box as Winnie collected herself, deposited it in the garbage before turning back to her. No question, her bright blue top was now a medley of various frozen custards. 'Head into the laundry room there, you can soak yours with mine.'

'Okay, I...shit,' she said again when she realized not only was her shirt momentarily destroyed by ice cream but her bra was nearly soaked through too. 'Can you bring me a towel or something?'

Spike watched her peel her blouse off, toss it into the warm water with his polo shirt and look back at her. Her lingerie was needing the bin too, he realized - the navy-blue satin bra was showing marks in the exact same places her blouse had gotten splattered. Again, not one of those moments where the specialness of the 'first time' should be ruined by functionality. He zipped upstairs to his room, found a Team One softball t-shirt and headed back downstairs. When he handed it to her, he watched with no little interest, as she tugged it over her head and then with a few deft moves, pulled her bra out of the right sleeve of the t-shirt.

'Hot,' was all he could say on a laugh. 'You need to rinse your skin too?'

'Nah, this is good. So...we had wings and ice cream as promised, but I heard rumours of movie night too?'

'You heard right.'

Winnie craned her neck around the doorway of the laundry room, considered the sofa. 'You know, your leather couch is probably gonna be scorching hot and it's been a long day, it'd be nice to stretch out without feeling cramped up, you know?'

'I'm sure it's...' Spike trailed off when she looked back at him, and he realized what she was trying to say to him. New roads, he thought with a nod. 'My NetFlix streams on the TV in my bedroom. It's probably way comfier to watch in there after a long day.'

With hands that weren't quite steady, Spike led her upstairs to his room. He'd done this plenty of times with other women...but none of them had felt like this, had mattered like this.

None of them had been Winnie Camden.

'Welcome to the sanctum,' he said lightly, and Winnie looked around the space. The walls were Italian football-jersey blue, the sheets on the king-sized bed the same friendly shade, off-set by a navy blue summer-weight duvet. There were football posters of EuroCup and WorldCup, along with movies like _Dr. Strangelove, Die Hard, Speed_ framed as artwork. On the dresser was a picture of Spike in his full dress blues standing beside his father, a red-beaded rosary draping over the corner of the frame. There was also a small dish shaped like Wall-E that held spare change, a couple of brightly coloured marbles and incongruously, a rather ugly purple porcelain frog draped with a string of Christmas tree lights.

Spike watched her take it in as he picked up the remotes, saw her eyeing his unmade bed within speculation. 'I was forced to make my bed every day, even as a grown man at home.'

'Rebellious, Mike.'

Spike laughed, patted the space beside him on the bed; he sucked in a quiet breath when he saw the light sway of her breasts beneath the shirt as she cozied up beside him, the feel of her soft and sweet against him. They were actually wearing more clothes in his bed right now than they had the night before in hers, yet somehow he felt far more nervous. Probably because they both knew there would be a little more than just kissing tonight, he mused, flicking absently through the options on his NetFlix menu. 'Anything you see here worth a first-date-night?'

'Hmmm.' Winnie wanted to say just him, but felt her nerve give way. Instead she arched an eyebrow when she saw the number of European films in his roster. 'Take the boy out of Italia, huh?'

'Something like that.'

'Wait, wait.' Winnie patted his wrist. 'You have _Wild Things_ on here?'

'Yeah, yeah, typical boy, huh?'

'Actually, I wouldn't mind watching it. You know, for the articles.'

'Well, then.' Spike pushed the button on the remote, settled down amongst the pillows with his arm around her. 'Truthfully, I haven't watched it yet either, just haven't had the time.'

They watched together as the twisted tale of high school bad girls unfolded all the while feeling the tension rising between them. When Neve Campbell and Denise Richards began the infamous catfight scene, both winced in such a way they moved closer together.

'Man, that has to hurt. I've been slammed into concrete walls by bombs, but that was in full riot gear, not in a tiny little bikini by an angry female,' Spike said aloud, making Winnie laugh.

'Imagine if this film had been made now? Who would they get to play Neve and Denise's parts?'

'Well, Denise could be filled in by anyone, but replacing Neve, you'd need someone classy with a nice rack like...Jennifer Lawrence,' Spike decided.

'She could certainly fill out Neve's tight tops.'

'I certainly appreciated your underwear last night.' Spike tugged her hair gently, and Winnie tilted her head to look at him.

'Tonight, it's being soaked in your wash basin.'

'Yeah it is.'

Winnie studied his face with a smile. 'You've got that look going on, I recognize it now.'

'Do I?'

'Mm-hmm. You're thinking naughty thoughts.'

'How convenient, then, we're already in my bed.' Moving so he was now lying on his side, Spike pulled her down with him and twisted so she was lying underneath him. He trace his fingertips lightly near the hem of her shorts, let his fingers rest on her lush skin just below her navel. 'Ooo, soft.'

Winnie said nothing; what could she say now without sounding like a total cheesy idiot. She wanted this so badly, the last thign she was going to do was let her big flappy mouth ruin it. Instead she moved her hand so it covered Spike's to guide him, and she inched his borrowed t-shirt up her body so he could see her mostly flat stomach and lay his palm against it. 'Mike,' she murmured when she felt his hand tremble a little. 'I want you to.'

'I want you to, too. Just...just wait a second.'

Spike popped up, stripped off his jeans so he was just in his boxers, saw her shimmy out of her shorts so she was in his shirt and her panties. He had to hold back from pouncing on her like a lion on an antelope, instead making his movements slow, panther-like, until the masculine curves of his Italian frame fit against the petite feminine ones of hers. Before she could give him time to make a fool of himself, he captured her mouth with his, kissing her fiercely, hotly, as though life itself depended on pleasuring her. He felt her kiss him back with just as much heat, just as much lust as pumped out of him and he groaned in pure satisfaction.

Winnie felt those strong hands twine in her hair, move over her shoulders and back down to the hem of her shirt, which Spike took care of in no time at all. Within moments she was naked but for her panties, and felt a slick thrill of pride when he saw her body, with its imperfections and flaws she felt would be total turnoffs to him, and was close to drooling on her. Her head thumped against the pillows when he started low on her belly, and kissed his way up, taking his time when he reached the valley between her breasts, moving his hand up to cup one and rub the pad of his thumb over her nipple. Shockwaves of lust bolted through her body, as she let out a cry she wasn't sure was entirely human. She'd dreamed about what this moment might be like, and not a single one of her fantasies even came close to the toe-curling reality of him pressed against her body.

Spike's head swam at the scent of her, the feel of her, the taste of her. Beautiful Winona, all female and all his. He kissed her while he moved his thumb over her hardened nipple, swallowing her cries of delight; he felt himself go hard from the little grinding movements of her hips against his, and wondered what would happen if he replaced his thumb with his tongue.

He had reached the base of her throat to do just that when the worst possible cock-block occurred - his phone, the mobile phone of a cop, began to buzz. He groaned, thumped his face against the pillow by Winnie's ear making her laugh. 'Hold on, I promise I'll get rid of whoever this is.'

'Okay.' Winnie pressed a kiss just under his jaw, loving how easy it was to do that; besides, she loved watching him get all hot and bothered.

'Oh, you've gotta be fucking kidding me,' Spike groaned when he saw the call-display. 'Eddie, what's up?'

'Just wanted to tell you that preshift tomorrow is at seven, not six buddy.'

'Great. Go away.'

'Oh, and the barbecue thing Sophie is-'

'Ed, it can wait. Bye.'

'You sure, Spike, I-'

'Ed. Listen carefully.' Spike blew out a breath as he felt Winnie's fingers walking down his stomach. 'I'm busy right now.'

'Oh, I know you are buddy.' All the teasing from earlier that day was back in his voice full-throttle. 'Why do you think I called instead of texting?'

'Funny guy. Bye.'

Without a second thought, Spike hung up on his superior officer, so he could once again turn his attention to the very hot, mostly naked woman shaking with held-in laughter at him. 'Winnie,' was all he said before she exploded.

'You-poor-guy,' she managed between hysterical giggles. He shifted, and Winnie's laughs died instantly as her eyes went wide when she felt the proof of his attraction to her press against her body.

'Right now, it's just for you and me.'

Winnie closed her eyes as he kissed her again, suddenly away of every nerve under her skin. She loved how natural it felt to do this with Spike, be with him so intimately. Her lips felt swollen and tender, the willing victims of his attention. Heat bulleted through her body when she felt his thumb rub her nipple gently; she nearly lost her mind when she felt his other hand close over her other breast. Winnie moaned in response, arching into his touch, her hips grinding against his.

Spike groaned again when he felt her body react to his touch; if this kept up, either he would embarrass himself like the proverbial teenager on prom night or he woudl push her into a level they weren't ready for yet. He schooled himself to stay steady, and when he heard her satisfied sigh, he let his body relax as he pressed a kiss between her breasts and let his temple thump against them.

'Looks like we missed the end of the movie, Winnie,' he said so casually, that Winnie had to laugh and traced her fingertips over his temple.

'Looks like,' she agreed. 'Our version was better, though, don't you think?'

'Definitely.'

'You feeling okay?'

'I'm just dandy, why?'

Winnie pressed her hand to her mouth so she wouldn't laugh at him. 'Spike, you're a guy and when you get excited, it's different than women getting excited. So, are you feeling okay?'

'Oh, yeah, I'm good.' He wasn't in pain and Spike knew if necessary, he could feign needing the bathroom and take care of it in a little while. Instead, Spike turned his head and winked at her. 'I do have a question, though.'

'Mmm?'

'Are you working tomorrow?'

'I am not, actually,' she replied. 'And I know you're on days tomorrow thanks to Ed reminding you.'

'Exactly. You cool with catching the streetcar or train that early?'

'Sure am, but- oh if that's the case, we should probably put my top and bra in the dryer. I'm all for borrowing my boyfriend's t-shirts for a nightie, but I draw the line at going braless in public.'

'Even in a sexy dress?'

'Apples and oranges, Mike,' Winnie reminded him. 'Just like guys going commando is a seasonal thing.'

Spike made a face of consideration. 'Very true. Now, here. This should help with the sleepy-thing.'

He reached past her once more, grabbing the remote for the television off his bedside table beside his phone, flipped through the selections until he reached the first Lord of the Rings film. 'Like Fantasia for grown-ups and doesn't leave the chemical hangover of a sleeping pill.'

Spike turned, found his t-shirt to hold out to her, then held it out of reach. 'Unless you wanna sleep in just your panties again.'

Laughing, Winnie tugged the t-shirt from his grasp and yanked it over her head; she stretched out in the bed beside him, took his hand and let him guide it up under the fabric to close over her breasts in a kind-of erotic hug. 'How's that?'

'Great,' Spike croaked out as he fought the instinct to squeeze, massage, tease her into turning back over so they could finish each other off. Next time, he thought, after a proper going-out date.


	7. Rock Me Gently

'Scarlatti, you're looking awfully glum today.'

Spike glanced over, saw Ed had finished pounding the snot out of the weighted bag and was unwrapping the tape from his knuckles. He blew out a breath as he continued his run program on the treadmill. It had been a quiet morning and in a concentrated effort to avoid more paperwork, Spike decided to stay in the gym to burn off some of the energy he still felt from his morning make-out with Winnie.

'Dunno what you mean?'

'Things not pan out with your lady?'

'What? No! No, she had to leave early this morning since I'm on days and she's off the sheet.'

'Ah. Now I get the droopy face.'

'Who's droopy?' Sam asked, sitting up from his spot on the weight bench, and Ed wagged his thumb at Spike.

'Loverboy had to be here for pre-shift with us, and Winnie spent the night.'

'Not enough time for a morning wake-up call, got it.' Sam pursed his lips, nodded. 'Did she send you off to work with a coffee and a kiss?'

Winnie had indeed, or at the very least, she'd bought him his morning double-double at the Tim Hortons by her street-car stop. But the guys didn't need to know that part, Spike decided, so he shrugged it off playfully.

'What, you do that for Sophie, Eddie?'

'When she's got morning catering jobs, you bet. Being in love comes with embracing the fact your masculinity does not diminish in a woman's eyes by doing nice things for her, my young friend. Nineteen years of marriage taught me that much.'

'Easy on the L-bombs there, Eddie,' Sam advised him. 'Babycakes is still in bed, she ain't around to diffuse those.'

'Fine, being in a relationship,' he amended and Spike gave him a thumbs up.

'We've only had one and a half dates,' he explained.

'Are you twelve? How do you have half a date?'

Before Spike could even try to figure out an answer that wouldn't sound like he was an adolescent, Winnie walked in in her pressed uniform with a cooler bag on her shoulder. He knew all eyes would be on her, then on him to see how he'd react now that they were somewhat back to normal and the whole damn team, even Wordy probably by now, knew they were together. He flicked his fingertips in a subtle come-in gesture and she moved forward, making it halfway to his treadmill before being accosted by Ed and Sam.

'Something smells delicious, Constable Camden,' Sam all but purred as his nose caught the scent. 'Is that what I think it is?'

'Taco chilli with brown sugar cornbread.' Winnie laughed when Sam did a double-fist pump and Ed looped his arm around her shoulders.

'Let me take care of that for you, Winnie. Sam, you think we can find a spot for this before those animals from Two and Three find out it's here?'

Spike let his program finish the last thirty seconds, grabbed at the towel hanging off the rails of the treadmill.

He mopped at himself so he wouldn't drip sweat all over his girlfriend who looked neat and fresh in her uniform.

'Thought you had the day off?'

'Yea, Syd asked if I could cover the rest of her shift since her hayfever is making her unintelligible over the mikes.' Winnie gave a little 'what are ya gonna do' quirk of the lips, making Spike want to kiss her; he knew he would get it from all angles if he indulged himself. 'Of course, this does mean that barring any complications we could catch a movie after shift at Varsity Commons.'

'I'd love to, but it's the second Friday of the month. That means karaoke night at the Goose,' he explained, watched Winnie make an O with her lips. 'You wanna meet me early, get a drink before the clowns arrive?'

'Sounds good.' Winnie caught her bottom lip in her teeth, clamped down a little too hard than was necessary, because she knew she had to settle for a pat on his very sweaty shoulder. 'I'll talk to you soon.'

'You got it.'

Spike watched her go, the way her hips swayed as she walked away before heading to the locker room and discovered where Sam and Ed had hidden the food - they'd procured a stash of recyclable picnic bowls and plastic spoons, and were scarfing down like the chilli was going to run away from them. 'Alright, let's have it.'

'You're not getting any of this, dude,' Sam told him, dunking a square of cornbread into the bowl. 'You're sleeping with the chef, you get it whenever you bat those pretty Italian eyes at her.'

'No he's not, otherwise he wouldn't be so quiet during workout today,' Ed pointed out and Spike felt his cheeks flame.

'How the hell did my private life become front page news around here?'

'I hate to break it to you, pal,' Ed went on, chasing chunks of sweet corn and onions around with his spoon in the bowl, 'but we all knew you had a thing for Winnie, so now that you two are together, we can have a lot more fun with you.'

'I get no chilli because...'

'If you look over there, you'll see there is something for you waiting by your locker, just like in high school.'

Spike looked over, saw the little tupperware bowl on the bench and had to laugh. He opened his locker, took out his cell to message thanks to Winnie, saw she'd already sent him a message - _figured this is less embarrassing than a post-note with a heart on it. X.__  
_

'Smooth, Constable,' he muttered, replying back, as Sam gulped down the last of his cornbread and pointed his spoon at his friend. 'So, how are we gonna make this work when we're gonna be down three people next week?'

'Leo and our old buddy Raf are being spared from Team Three and Four, and one of the dispatchers is going to man the comm-truck so we will have a full field team,' Ed replied.

'Man, if it's Winnie and Toth finds out,' Spike started; the humour left Ed's tone as he opened his locker.

'Spike, you know if Sam and Jules can survive that creep, you and Winnie have nothing to worry about. You two aren't on a team together or even opposing teams.'

'Or he could argue that she gives our team priority because of me.'

'Spikey, it's all good bro.'

'Bah!'

Spike waved them off as he grabbed a towel from his locker and headed for the showers. When he was out of earshot, Sam said to Ed, 'Man, you called it right about them not knocking boots yet.'

'He may talk a big game but our Michelangelo is still a good Italian boy at heart who treats his girlfriend like a princess. On top of that, he really does love Winnie so he's not gonna fuck it up by pushing things too quickly with her, which includes the banging you and your wife are so fond,' Ed replied, bumping knuckles with Sam.

'You think she loves him back?'

'Oh, of course she does, it's just too new for them to be dropping L-bombs like that, especially when Spike's other woman isn't there to help him out.'

* * *

Spike knew he was early getting to the Goose - it was barely eight-thirty - but he wanted to be there at a decent time. He ordered a shot of whiskey and a beer, whiskey to clear his nerves out and beer to enjoy, then stood at the bar, absently watching the UFC match which he secretly never understood the appeal of. He'd much rather watch Dion Phaneuf mow through the Leafs' opponent of the week instead of grown men in tiny little shorts pound on each other.

Spike knew he was also a nervous new boyfriend for sure when he kept looking to the door every time it opened and feeling a little bit more and more disappointed when it wasn't Winnie. Finally, finally, after nearly twenty minutes of waiting the door opened and there she was.

Winnie walked in and felt her heart hiccup in her chest as she saw Spike standing casually at the bar, drinking his beer and watching the fight. Oof but the man was hot, and so sweet he wanted to impress her by being early; she was a cop too, she knew the effects of the job on personal time. The fact he wanted to do that for her charmed her and made her feel...closer to him, for lack of a better phrase, Winnie decided. Then he caught sight of her walking in and she felt the hiccup turn to a full choke-hold, as he all but drank her up, which made her want to rush over and make up for all the times she couldn't kiss him that day.

She wondered if that was a sign that when they finally took the leap and slept together, they would have very good 'did you miss me' sex on a regular basis. She smiled at him, closed her eyes as he kissed her hello and decided the answer to her own question was a resounding yes.

'You look great,' Spike told her, loving the peachy tone of her top against her caramel skin, the way her brown leather belt atop her denim shorts accentuated the rhythmic walk he noticed even when she was wearing her uniform at the station. 'Drink?'

'For sure.' Winnie breathed deep; even with the smells of the bar swirling around them she still picked up the fragrance of that stupidly lovable bad cologne he favoured. She made a mental note that if they had a sleepover again that night, she would have to ask him about it. 'Anyone else here yet?'

'Nope, and I'm praying they won't be for another-' Spike checked his wrist-band watch '-hour at least. So, drink?'

'I'll take a shot of Jamesons and a Molson draft.'

'My kind of woman.' Spike flagged down the bartender, got her drinks and added them to his own tab. 'Table, or game?'

'Game,' Winnie replied, waiting a beat to down her shot of whiskey before going on, 'unless you think we should wait for the others. You know, I'm surprised they haven't been teasing us at all, it's very odd.'

'Oh, she's a saucy one.' Spike gave her hair a tug, slid his hand down her back before finding her hand to walk with her to one of the pool tables. 'Eight ball or freeball?'

'Mmm, freeball to warm up then we'll eight-ball play for something...fun.' Winnie flicked her eyebrows, unsure of how to tell Spike she wanted him to do more than just what he'd done to her body the previous night.

'Like what?'

'Like shots, or wings, or...' Winnie trailed off, moved closer and whispered in his ear, 'articles of clothing to go missing later.'

Spike dipped his head, kissing her fully with a little sigh. 'Mmm, good thing I put my overnight bag in my truck.

'It's also your day off tomorrow, right?'

'Yeah, and you're working.'

'No.' Winnie shook her head. 'Syd said she's taking my nights tomorrow as thanks for trading off when she was sick so I'm yours.'

'Yes, yes you are,' he said and Winnie's stomach bounced like a superball.

'Ro-sham-bo who breaks?'

'We always play better breasts breaks,' Spike replied, making her laugh while he set the pool table. 'So that's definitely you.'

'What happens when you play against Ed or Sam?'

'Oh then it's better baldness.'

Winnie laughed again; she loved how much she laughed around him. It was rarely a nervous reaction on her part to how he made her feel, he was just naturally a funny guy. She chalked her cue, bent over the table to angle her shot. 'Spike?'

'Yeah?'

'If you're going to look down my shirt every time I do this tonight, I have a feeling you'll be getting very naked later on.'

'How naked?'

'You'll have nothing left but your dimples and cologne.'

'Winnie, that will make us both very happy if that happens. Besides, I've seen you play against Leah and Jules, and...' Spike trailed off when Winnie hit the cue ball with a flickering snap and she sunk two balls on her opening shot.

'And you were never that good with them,' he finished honestly.

'Leah is a great cop but she would get hustled by a one-armed blind man at pool and for all her talents as a sniper, the just don't translate well to the pool table,' Winnie laughed, 'I never wanted her to feel like I the desk jockey was showing them up.'

'You're not a desk jockey, you're a cop, Winnie, and you're a great good friend.' And a bit of a pool shark, he added silently when he watched her sink two more shots with the ease and grace of a prima ballerina doing a pirouette. When she missed on her fifth shot, Spike let out a low whistle. 'So what's this first round cost me already?'

'Oh, we'll start simple. Socks, belt and watch.'

'Playing nice are we?'

Winnie just smiled, tilting her head to admire the view when he lined himself up to take his shot. 'Now I get it,' she all but trilled when she glued her eyes to his ass as he took his shot, then lifted an eyebrow when he sank a double split. 'Well boy howdy Spike, guess you're not the only one who holds back around the team either.'

Spike turned, and Winnie felt her insides go liquid at the smouldering look he gave her. He slowly straightened up to walk around the table, stopped to give her a kiss to match the look. Such was the potency there, Winnie almost forgot where they were and nearly started flipping open the buttons of his shirt. 'More than you know,' he whispered in her ear, before kissing her once more.

'Hey, hey, none of that, Constable Scarlatti!'

Winnie began to laugh against his lips as she heard his low complaining groan of frustration. 'Every single time,' she whispered with a smile before turning around to see the gang including Wordy walking in behind Sam who was chirping at them. 'Hi Sam.'

'Winnie. You keeping this guy out of trouble?'

'You do know we expect you both to join in karaoke night, right?' Ed told them, making Leah roll her eyes.

'Men,' she said with a light sneer, which earned squawks from both Sam and Ed, and she jerked her thumb over her shoulder to where Wordy, Jules, Raf and Leo from Team Four were dragging chairs around a table. 'Our place is over there.'

She put her hands on their shoulders, steered them away but not before catching both Winnie and Spike mouthing 'thank you' to her. Leah waited until they were all seated and perusing the specials of the night before going mama-duck on their asses. 'For all your brains, you just don't read the signs.'

'We're just trying to make Winnie feel like part of the group,' Sam protested.

'Which is probably making her feel more awkward than if you would just let them be,' Jules tacked on, trying to decide if she wanted a virgin planter's punch or strawberry daiquiri; the baby liked the sweet stuff, it seemed.

'Exactly,' Leah pointed out. 'They need this time for themselves, without us acting like we're all back in high school and the president of the math club finally got a date with the star of the school musical.'

'Spike was president of the chemistry club,' Wordy put in, 'but Leah has a point. No reason for us to be screwing up their date night right now.'

'Listen to Mister Maturity here, this is the same guy who put the pepper spray in Spike's gear I'm talking to?' Ed asked him.

'Besides, this way it's more fun to text him to tease him because he can't hear us,' Wordy added.

'That's my boy. So...' Sam looked Winnie and Spike up and down, saw the very obvious way Spike was oogling Winnie's goodies as she adjusted her position for a rather tricky shot. 'We taking bets on how long that whole no-sex thing happens?'

'Oh my God!' Leah shook her head, sipped her beer. 'Is that all you perverts can think about? Maybe they're holding off on that until they get used to each other as more than friends.'

'We never had that,' he pointed out, gesturing to his wife.

'We also hopped into bed and dating after a few months of knowing each other,' Jules reminded him, 'while they have five years of no more than flirting and one drunken makeout under the mistletoe under their belts. It does matter.'

'Hate to say it, boys, but the women are right,' Ed informed them. 'It's hard to make that shift but they've got enough started between them that the rest will happen.'

They all grumbled in agreement, watched the new couple before Wordy piped up once more. 'So...who is going to text Spike and tell him he and Winnie are going to come karaoke with us?'


	8. Insatiable

'Are you gonna get that?'

'Nope.'

'Could be a call in to the station.'

'Considering the texts are coming from the other side of the bar, doubtful.'

Winnie glanced over her shoulder, loving how she heard her shot on the seven-ball sink in the side pocket without looking back. Spike's phone had been peeping away at him all night with regular consistency. It didn't take an SRU cop to figure out they were being watched like a sitcom by their friends; Winnie would have been disappointed in them if they hadn't continued with their adolescent antics. 'Well, you have to Wordy points for a little more subtlety than Ed,' she decided.

'Ha!' Spike let out a sharp, bright laugh as Winnie walked around him to take her shot against the four-ball. 'Wordy, subtle? That's the guy who proposed to his wife at the Skydome and hosed my entire SRU protective gear with pepper spray when I was a rookie.'

'Maybe the meds for the Parkinson's have mellowed him.'

'He also told me when his oldest daughter starts high school, he's teaching her SRU tactical disarming holds.' Spike grinned when the four-ball kissed the bumper, rolled away from the pocket. 'Oh, Constable Camden, looks like you've just lost your top.'

'You've already lost everything except this-' Winnie tugged the thin gold chain out from under his shirt when the little gold good-luck horn rest '-and your underwear. I think I'm still winning this round.'

'How do you win strip pool by keeping clothes on?'

'Because-'

'Oh, saved by the bell.' This time Spike was thankful for Wordy's text - _get a room if you're gonna undress her with your eyes, Scarlatti _- and laughed, sent him back a message; _Wordy, you need advice on keeping Shelly interested?_ 'But that being said, we should probably play nice and have a drink with him.'

* * *

'That was fun.'

'Yeah, really funny when Wordy kept blowing my phone up with texts every fifteen minutes.'

'I thought it was quite nice of him to pick up our bar tab, though.'

'House rules. If you are the low scoring party at karaoke night, you pick up there winner's tab up to thirty bucks.'

'Maybe I should have had a little more to drink then, even though I'm a cheap date.'

Spike chuckled as he followed Winnie into her apartment, felt his stomach clutch. The night at the Goose had been nothing but consistent teasing between them, the kind of teasing that usually had him stumblin through the door of his sexual partner's apartment, hardly able to control himself. Instead of having that moment here with her, he felt the taut intensity between them continue to hum when Winnie dropped her keys on the table, her purse in the chair.

'Go put your stuff in the bedroom,' she told him, unsure if her next play was going to work out like she wanted it to. She could feel her body needing her man and if she didn't get her hands on him soon, she was going to scream her bloody lungs out. Whoever thought only women coudl tease was dead wrong.

She sauntered over to her stereo, popped her iPod in; she'd added a special 'Lover's Mix' full of slow, romantic songs with lots of throbbing bass. She turned it on low, then with lightning speed, shimmied out of her clothes so that when he walked out, he saw her there in her bra and panties.

'I hope you don't mind, I...' Spike trailed off when he saw Winnie standing there in her underwear, some bluesy song filling the living room. The delicate gold necklace she wore with a small gold pendant on it sparkled in the low light of her lamps as she tried to figure out what to do with her hands, then finally left them resting palms down against her thighs. 'I completely forget everything that was in my brain.

'I...I had this idea for us to really truly and finally have some privacy tonight,' she told him, in a voice almost shy with nerves. 'And...God, I didn't think I'd be so nervous.'

Spike said nothing, just tugged off his own shirt, stripped off his pants so he was in his boxers. He crossed to her, held out his hand to hers with a soft smile that set the dimple in his right cheek winking. 'Being nervous is a two-way street, Winona. Here.'

He took her hand, laced his fingers through it as he pressed the other to the small of her back. His smile widenedwhen she put her own on his shoulder, held her posture up like she was on Dancing With the Stars. 'You did dance as a kid?'

'Ice dance. Ten years of figure skating lessons with my sister. I couldn't jump very well, too heavy in the hips and thighs for it but I could dance. It's the kind of training that the body doesn't forget.'

'Did you win any big contests?'

'Won a lot of third place medals. My sister used to call me the Queen of Bronze.'

'Yeah.' Spike said it absently, as he moved her hand so she laid her palm flat on his shoulder to draw him closer; the hand that held hers drew close to his chest so she was all but cuddled in his arms as they swayed and circled slowly in time to the music. 'I like this song, it's sexy but...dreamy, at the same time.'

'It's called Touch Me, this is the radio-single version Dave Matthews did. It's from the show Spring Awakening. I can't wait to see it, hopefully it'll be my birthday gift to myself.'

'September twenth fifth, a Libra. Dedicated to beauty, charity, balance and will often forget about her own needs in favour of helping others. Also very sensitive and giving lovers.'

'You know a lot about astrology, Mike,' Winnie laughed.

'It was one of the first things I taught my ma to read in English. They were short passages in the newspaper, she liked the romance of it.'

'What a great guy.' Winnie turned her face to his, planted a kiss on his jaw. 'More importantly, you remembered when my birthday is.'

'When's mine?'

'You are April thirty, a Taurus?' She looked to him for confirmation, got a nod. 'What are Taurus good at?'

'We are stubborn, determined, romantic too, we're protective of what is ours, and we like the finer things in life, which explains my attraction to you.'

'There's the romantic,' Winnie smiled; this time it was Spike who kissed her, his lips hot but unseeking, only there to pleasure her. She sighed, and they stopped moving as they continued to kiss, hands moving over heated skin in a search for that closeness Winnie had thought of earlier. Of course, now she couldn't think of anything except Spike, his body on hers, the way she felt her thighs go loose, heat pooling between them.

Spike's head swam as he kissed her, this time nudging apart her lips with his tongue to delve deep inside her mouth. Her tongue met his with just as much interest, making her moan lightly, which in turn made him moan too. His hands drifted down her back to grab her ass again - she'd liked that one, that much he could remember right now - and pulled her tight against his ever-growing arousal. His hands stayed glued to her hips as he began to walk her backwards toward her couch; when she sensed the direction they were taking, Winnie turned her head away so Spike was kissing the smooth, inviting column of her throat.

'Michaelangelo,' she murmured, biting her short, neat nails into his shoulders, 'come to my bed with me.'

'You mean-'

'No, not sex Spike,' Winnie said with a bit of humour in her voice, 'I don't think either of us are emotionally ready yet for that.'

'Agreed,' Spike replied on a rush of relief, feeling the pressure of that slide from his shoulders but not the heat from his belly. 'So we are going to your bed-'

'To have fun and get to know each other's bodies very...very...well.' Winnie punctuated each word with a kiss on the base of his throat, turned her liquid brown eyes up to his face. 'Unless you'd like to wait a little longer on that front, too.'

'Like hell. I'm only human, Winnie.'

So saying, Spike took her hand and led her to the bedroom, where he sat on the edge of her bed, knees bracketing her legs as she stood in front of him. He swallowed tightly when she kept her eyes on his as she flicked the hooks of her bra open behind her back, slid one strap, then the other, down so the pretty purple silk fell away from her body. She took his hand, kissing his fingertips as she slid it up her not-as-flat-as-it-should-be stomach to cover her breast. Her head rolled back on her shoulders as he pressed his mouth between her breasts, making her shiver.

His hand drifted from her breast down to her hips, his fingers hooked beneath the strings of her bikini cut panties.

'Winona,' he sighed, 'want me to go first?'

'Yes,' she replied in the same breathy tone, making Spike's blood pump harder. He lifted up his hips to slide off his boxers, then took Winnie's chin gently between his forefinger and thumb to guide her eyes back to his face. He kissed her, pressing her forehead to hers.

'Winona, I want you to look at me.'

Winnie, who'd always been slightly bashful about openly appreciating her lovers' bodies, let her eyes flutter open; with him, it wasn't about feeling awkward, it was about getting too greedy for him too quickly. She felt her body tighten in anticipation and appreciation when she saw the impressive size of him.

'Hello Constable,' she purred, gently grazing her fingers over his thighs. That body, was all she could think, was truly a gift from the gods. She took a step closer to him, then quick as lightning, he had her tumblign to the bed and he was pressed against her, those Italian curves fitting against her gentle ones, as his hands moved once more to her hips and she felt him slip her panties down her body; lazily she kicked them off her with her foot, her arms coming around his body to keep him close. There was that word again, she thought absently before all conscious thought was washed away when his hands closed over her breasts, massaging with just enough roughness to make it exciting.

Spike wanted to keep his eyes open to watch her as he touched her, to revel in the beauty of her body; he knew she was slightly conscious of the way she thought certain bits here and there didn't fit the image quite right of a cop. All he could think of when he felt her skin was how lush and soft it was, how utterly female she was. He languidly grazed his thumb over her nipple, nearly lost his mind when he felt her tremble in pleasure at his touch.

'More,' she sighed, hips arching against his. 'Michelangelo, more.'

'More what,' he replied, lips grazing over her throat.

'Everything.'

'Winona, look at me.'

When her eyes opened, glazed from his attention to her body, Spike licked the pad of his thumb and brushed it over her nipple. He watched her eyes widen as she gave a strangled cry. Her back arched and Spike lowered his mouth to her breast. Good god, she was sweet and lush, and juicy here like a ripe summer peach. His tongue found the heated peak of her breast, making her moan loudly as her fingers curled into his shoulder. When he felt the cradle of her thighs dampen against him, Spike had to fight every animal urge in his body to not just sink into her then and there. She deserved to be pleasured slowly, to draw out the anticipation of it.

Winnie was beyond speech, and she realized he'd only barely touched and tastes her breasts, he hadn't even ventured those wickedly clever fingers south since taking her panties off. Another move, she thought briefly, letting the arch of her foot move over his leg, her hips rocking against his; apparently he got the message for the next thing she knew, her arms were above her head, his fingers closers her around the rails of her headboard.

'You'll want to hold on for this, Winona,' he said in her ear, then ran his hands down the length of her body to her legs, stroking her thighs slowly, each pass going higher and higher until he was brushing over her where she waited wetly for him. For him, Spike thought again; was there anything more arousing to a man than a beautiful, sexy woman lost in her own pleasure that he'd given her? He stroked his figners over her, her cries nothing more than gasped vowels of delight. 'Keep your eyes on me.'

Winnie watched his face, then let out a low moan of dark delight when she felt him slip a finger inside her, draw it out again. 'Mike, yes. Yes, God, please do that again.'

Spike did as she asked, stroking her as her eyes stayed on his face until he moved his thumb over her trigger and she grabbed at his biceps, pulled his chest close to her. He heard her sigh into his ear, 'I'm so close, Mike, so close, so...so...oh, God!'

Winnie felt her world break apart as the orgasm flooded through her like brushfire, rolling through and destroying everything except the feel of her lover in her arms. Her toes actually curled as she rode the delicious crest of sensation, her body going tense until it was wrung dry before she fell back against her pillows; her chest was heaving from the energy expended, fingers going limp on his smooth back. 'Oh, Mike.'

She stroked his face before pulling him in for a crushing kiss, a kind of desperate thank-you. 'Oh, Mike,' she said again, 'I...I know it's a total cliche but it's the truth.'

'What is,' he asked her, kissing her neck.

'I've never felt that good in bed before.'

'Never?'

'Never-ever.'

Spike chuckled a little bit, put his hand on her hip as he twisted away. His own arousal was still there, but not so uncomfortable for him that he felt the need to do something about it in this very instant. He watched the lightness of her face as he adjusted them so her temple rested against his ribs, their joined hands laying over his navel. 'You are something else to watch, Winnie,' he told her, making Winnie give a happy little wiggle.

'Mike? She played her fingers over his hand, gave him a considering look.

'Yeah?'

'You're very bossy in bed,' she told him, then picked up his hand to kiss the surprisingly soft skin she found there. 'I like it very much.'

'I sense a but coming there,' Spike replied cautiously, then felt the grin spread when she let her hand wander down to graze him, making him moan lightly.

'But this is not a one way street. When he sucked in a sharp breath, Winnie slowed her touch even more. 'I want you to feel as good as you make feel.'

'If I'm bossy, then you're the...the world's best...tease.'

'Well, why should I get all the fun stuff?' Winnie craned her neck, found the sweet spot just under his jaw as she closed her hand around him, began to work him lightly. 'How's that feel, baby?'

'Really...really good,' Spike sighed, putting his arm around her shoulders. He closed his eyes, thumped his head against her headboard rails. 'Really...good...Winona.'

Winnie sighed happily, trailed kisses up and down his neck as she pleasured him, goign a little faster and faster until she felt Spike's body tense, his breathing hitch. 'Mike, look at me,' she tried to coax him, and was met with his mouth feasting on hers. She heard him groan, nearly yell, as the orgasm overtook him, oozing warm in her hand. His body was racked with shudders, his breathing laboured until he was drained; spent, he slithered down into her cozy pillows while she found a couple of tissues to mop up the worst of it from her hand. She discreetly added a dose of hand sanitizer and Spike couldn't blame her for that at all. When she'd tidied up, she cuddled against him, this time both of them flaked out on her bed.

'So...' Spike trailed off on a laugh. 'Don't really have any words for that.'

'Me neither. Well maybe one question.'

'Oh?'

'If that's what it's like when we're just fooling around, getting all touchy, what's it going to be like when we really have sex?'

Spike laughed again. 'That is a good question. Right now, all I know is that there is nothing more I wanna do with you than fall asleep right here in this bed, with you buck-ass naked and satisfied in my arms.'

'That makes two of us,' Winnie replied eagerly; she sat up to pull the sheets up around them, not at all surprised when both of them were asleep in minutes.


	9. The Lazy Song

The next morning Winnie awoke early, more out of habit than desire, to find she wasn't alone in bed - Spike was still there. He hadn't gotten up and gone for a run or something, wasn't making breakfast or getting a shower. He was still holding her close like a little boy with his favourite teddy bear he occasionally squeezed tighter to himself.

Cautiously she turned over so she could just watch him sleep - he had such a busy brain, always on the go with some scheme or plan - such was the nature of their job - but here, in the early morning light he looked so peaceful, so impossibly young and innocent. Sometimes Winnie wondered how the hell he'd gotten to be such a tough-guy cop, then remembered it was because he looked so young and innocent that people trusted him; a real Officer Friendly if there ever was one. Occasionally, when he huffed out a breath through his nose he looked like Sam the Eagle from the Muppets, she thought as she brushed her fingers lightly over his sleep-messed hair.

'My beautiful man,' she murmured, closing her eyes to kiss his brow gently. Apparently he was a light sleeper too, for she heard him murmur back, 'My beautiful woman.'

'Morning, sleepy.'

Spike winced a little, huffed out another breath. He loved the days when he got to sleep in, days which might be starting earlier than he thought if his current assessment was right and Winnie was the most dreadful of beasts - a natural morning person. 'Morning. Time is it?'

'Just after seven. But there is no rush to get up, we both have the day off.'

'I know, and the forecast said today is supposed to be gorgeous so I was thinking about doing some kind of awesome activity where we can enjoy the outdoors.'

'And food.' Winnie flicked her eyebrows. 'We burned up some calories last night and I could use a decent meal. Stress of the last two days has thrown me all out of whack.'

'Then I'll be sure you get your fruit and fibre this morning. I have tickets for the Jays-Angels game for us today and you can't be asking for the garden salad at the SkyDome.'

'Baseball?'

Spike had a moment of pure panic; he'd gotten the tickets originally for himself and Sam for that day but once the night at the hospital had happened, he'd asked his buddy if he minded if they caught another game . Sam being a newlywed and a stand-up guy all around, told him to take Winnie and have a great time. His distress was gone as quickly as it came when Winnie tried to pop up from here he still had her in his arms. 'Where you going speedy?'

'To see if my Joe Carter T-shirt is in my dirty laundry! Oh, this is awesome, I haven't been to a game in ages!'

'Pay the toll first.'

'What toll?'

Spike grinned, pulled her in for a kiss that Winnie was certain had steam shooting out her ears like she was a cartoon character. 'What's in the fridge for breakfast?'

'Uh...stuff? I don't know what's left, part of my plan for yesterday was to go grocery shopping since I used up the last of my pantry supplies making chilli,' she laughed. 'That kinda got kiboshed since I was filling in for Syd and I ended up having street meat for supper.'

'Alright, well if you want you can have the shower first or...' Spike pulled her close to whisper in her ear. 'We coudl shower together, get a little wet...and...wild.'

'Oh yes,' Winnie breathed, his breath warm on her ear. 'Yes, I could definitely go for some company in the shower today.'

'Breakfast can wait?'

'For you, Michelangelo, the world can wait.'

She touched her hand to his face, smiling softly at him, then wriggled out to find towels apparently forgetting she was as naked as he was. He loved watching her move so unabashedly; he understood the hesitancy, the shyness around him mostly because he was still getting over that himself. It was okay now to admit to what he was doing, the bad jokes when he came into work in the morning, making sure he always left the locker room looking as good as possible at the end of a shift. Bringing her tea from Black and Green on the days he knew she was working nights when he was arriving for days.

Tossing back the bedsheets, he grabbed her hand as she found two beach towels and tugged her into the small bathroom. 'Let's go. I'm hungry, and yes that is a double entendre.'

* * *

Since the time in the shower took about as long as they figured it would, owing to the fact they couldn't keep their hands off each other. Nearly half an hour later, skin steaming for a variety of reasons, Winnie was standing at the stove as she nudged around what looked to Spike like frightened little pancakes.

'What is that?' he asked warily, pointing at the frying pan. It smelled temptingly like potatoes cooking in butter, but the look of it was something else he wasn't entirely sure was edible.

'Breakfast.'

'Okay, still doesn't answer my question. What is that?'

'Oh, it's pirogi latkes.'

'Pirogi latkes?'

'Yep, mashed potato home-fry cakes with cheese, bacon and green onions. Oh and there is more bacon, well turkey bacon, in the fridge to cook and toast and fruit salad.'

'Health nut,' Spike laughed. 'My ma wold have a thing to say about her baby boy eating this for breakfast.'

'And my mother would ask me why I'm eating this way if it's not a special occasion. But it is,' Winnie gave a little shrug. 'It's the first morning we've gotten frisky with each other and walked away smiling.'

'Frisky is for kittens-'

'Which makes you a hot blooded tiger.'

Spike set down the coffee cup he'd found, wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck. 'Which makes you,' he murmured against her skin, 'an Amazon. Now at risk of sounding condescending do you even own a coffee maker?'

'A Keurig since I drink tea. There's a mixed box of flavours in the cupboard.'

'Why did I just have a sudden flash you could be talking about condoms?'

Winnie arched an eyebrow at him, yanked open her refrigerator door. 'Because your brain is still stuck in the shower with your hand between my thighs and making me moan in delight?'

'Are you doing that on purpose to get me all stirred up?' Spike narrowed his eyes at her playfully. 'Because it's working fantastically, Winnie.'

'Truth?'

'Always good, no matter how much it hurts.'

'It's been very rare in my experience, even talking to my closest girlfriends, that I can be so honest about my likes and dislikes when it comes to sex. But around you...' Winnie shrugged her shoulders, put a bowl of fruit salad on the counter. 'I dunno, it doesn't feel weird to tell you what I like.'

'Considering we're in a very new relationship, I should hope you'd be able to tell me what you like, in bed and out. I'm a boy genius, not a psychic.' Spike smiled, gave her a hug around her middle. He pressed a noisy kiss to her neck and felt her shiver in delight. 'Although that one I can figure out for myself.'

'Yeah, I guess so. You want orange juice or just coffee?'

'Both is great.' Spike's phone went off, and he sighed as he saw it wasn't just a phone call, it was a Skype call form his cousin Monica's number. 'Oh, Jesus. Let me get rid of these ones.'

'These ones who?'

He held up a finger as he answered the Skype call and hoped he didn't sound too rude to Winnie speaking in Italian; he did like to keep himself sharp. 'Buongiorno Monica, Ma with you?'

'Yes she is, Mikey.'

'Hi Ma.'

'Michelangelo, where are you?' Michelina Scarlatti's round-moon face came onto the screen, set in its usual concentrated lines of worry when she looked at the space around her son's head, she didn't recognize it as any part of his home. 'Why you not at home so early?'

'I'm at my girlfriend's house, Ma, she's making breakfast for us.'

'A girlfriend?' Now Monica chimed in, eyes glittering like a hawk searching for mice in the desert. 'When did this happen, MIkey?'

'Earlier this week, she's...' Spike wasn't sure how to put into words how he felt about Winnie already without giving his mother ideas about weddings and grand-babies. 'She is the best.'

'What is her name? Oh, is it the pretty brunette you said runs the computers at your police station?'

'Our dispatcher, Winnie, yeah, it's her.' Spike rolled his eyes when Monica and his mother squealed in delight. 'You know she can hear you, right? She's probably thinking you are already getting wedding ideas.'

'Should we be, Michelangelo?'

'Let me get back to you on that one. It's been less than a week.'

Monica narrowed her pretty almond eyes at her cousin. 'No sex yet,' she assessed, making Spike roll his eyes in annoyance and Michelina swat her niece in scandal. 'That's not always a bad thing.'

'Especially since we have been friends for nearly five years too.'

'Let me say hi, Mikey,' Michelina begged her son, and Spike wrinkled his nose like he was twelve and avoiding his asparagus which only hardened his mother's resolve. 'Michelangelo, you are my only son, and you have a girlfriend. Let me say hi.'

'Alright, Ma.' Spike walked over to the stove, held his phone up so Winnie was in full frame; in this light she looked almost Sicilian, or at least a Sicilian mix. 'Winnie, my mother Michelina, Ma this is Winnie.'

'Like the bear?' Michelina asked in stilted English, making Winnie smile.

'No, Missus Scarlatti my whole name is Winona but my friends and Michelangelo call me Winnie.'

'What is for breakfast, Wi-nona?'

'Fried potatoes with bacon, cheese and onions, toast, fruit, coffee and juice.' Winnie smiled when Spike angled the camera of the phone down to the pan. 'Not exactly Italian home cooking but it's tasty and mostly nutritious.'

'My boy, he's knows the good things when he see it.'

Winnie knew it was possible - probable - Michaelina didn't just mean the food so she smiled as winningly as she could while keeping her cool. 'That he does,' she agreed lightly. 'Mike, you want the rest of that bacon?'

'Yeah sure.'

'Lovely to meet you, Wi-nona,' Michelina told her warmly.

'Likewise,' Winnie replied, then dropped out of frame to get a second frying pan from the oven storage drawer for the remaining bacon.

Spike watched her nervously futz about with their breakfast things and could only share her sympathy; he knew what his mother was up to, and he did not appreciate having his morning interrupted like this.

'Ma, you're embarrassing her when you talk about stuff like that,' he reminded Michelina, switching back to Italian.

'Why she is embarrassed?'

'It's been less than a week. How about you let me figure out how fast things are going between us first, and-'

'What's to figure out! I know my boy, I know you love her already and you are trying to take it slow so you don't' scare her away. But Michelangelo, let me tell you something.'

'What's that Ma?'

'I think she loves you too.'

'There's no maybe in that sentence,' Monica piped up; she'd been so quiet, surely a first for her,

'Okay, time to say bye-bye from Italy. Go make that gnocchi my cousins love so much.' Spike told his mother he loved her and hung up, blew out a breath. 'Sorry about that, it's kinda hard to say no to them when they-'

His words were cut off when Winnie grabbed his face in her hands and gave him a brain melting kiss that actually ha him staggering a little from her ferocity. 'You should speak in Italian more often, Mike,' she told him. 'It's very sexy.'

'If I told you what they were talking to me about, I doubt you'd say so.'

'Oh I can guess.'

'Really.' Spike put his hands on her waist as Winnie threaded hers behind his neck. 'What were they talking about?'

'How it's past time you had a wife and kids and they're praying things work out that way with me.'

'How do you do that? Wait, are you the psychic and not me?'

'Or it could be that I have a degree in criminal psychology with a minor in French, and since I speak French I can pick up similar word patterns.'

'Tricky, Constable Camden.' Spike leaned in, kissed her again. 'Very tricky.'

'Well, just wait until you meet my mother. Then you'll be wishing you brought Babycakes to dinner.' Winnie gave a smirking little sneer for just a fraction of a second before she was patting his chest and turning back to the stove to babysit their turkey bacon. 'So, breakfast, groceries, maybe a quick run in the park, then Blue Jays!'

Spike could hear the slight note of melancholy in her voice; being a man who dealt with bombs and explosives on a fairly regular basis he knew the delicate art of timing like his own face. This was not the time to figure out the wire to cut.

Or maybe it was, as Winnie cut it for him. 'I know that look you're giving me, so I'll give you the best answer I can for right now. Not to get all depressing on a beautiful day I'm spending with you, but my mother is a minefield of sanctimonious judgement, hypocrisy and contradictions who consistently tries to run my life despite the fact I am thirty-four years old. An Italian mother who wants you to have a wife and babies is a walk in the park.'

'When will I get to meet this minefield?'

'February thirtieth. Failling that, what will probably be the world's tensest Thanksgiving dinner.'

'Once again, Constable Camden, you are a tricky one,' Spike chuckled, then just gave her a hug that had nothing to do with teasing flirtations and everything to do with making his girlfriend feel better. 'I like this.'

'You like hearing me complain and airing my jealousy that your mother loves you to the point of annoyance?'

'No, that part makes me feel impotent when I can't do much about it concretely. I meant I like being the guy you bitch to about that stuff.'

'Same goes.'

'Especially,' he added, grabbing plates from the cupboard, 'when the perk of cheering you up comes with the possibility of nudity.'

'True say. Nothing like being felt up after a rough day to put a smile on your face,' she said with such a straight face that Spike cracked up, and Winnie felt the shift back into the new-relationship glow. 'So...hungry?'

'You betcha.'

'Great. You know where everything is while I take care of the food.'

It was such a relaxed, easy morning, Winnie thought, not at all what she'd anticipated their first breakfast morning together as a couple would be like. She'd thought the awkward part would have take over, now they'd now gotten to see what the other was packing underneath their SRU issued work-clothes. Instead, it had only served to make them feel closer to each other, those moments at work where he winked at her or gave her those long, liquid looks from his soulful eyes all the more special to them both now.

Because she felt like, Winnie walked up behind him as he put plates and cutlery on the table, kissed his neck the same way he'd done to her while she'd been cooking. 'So breakfast and grocery shopping. Pretty domestic.'

'Trust me, after some of the cases we've had, and given the events of the last day or two domestic is not looking bad in the slightest.' Spike eyeballed his breakfast, broke off a bit of potato cake with his fork, tried it cautiously. The moan he let out was one of food-gasmic delight. 'Oh, good God Winnie, this your recipe?'

'Yeah, I came across it one hungover morning in university when I wanted hashbrowns and forgot to break up the potatoes in the frying pan. You like?'

'Let's just say you better eat yours quickly if you wanna eat it at all.'

'Okay then.' Winnie dug in with gusto, poked a grocery flyer with her finger. 'We're going marketing at the Zehrs over on Jarvis and I know they'll price match flyers so have a look, see if there is anything you want on the list.'

'Seriously?'

'Mike, if you're going to be spending time here, wouldn't it be nice to have a few things you like in the fridge?' She winked at him. 'Consider this a pre-step to keeping your shaving kit in my medicine cabinet.'

'Alrighty then.' Spike reached across the table to grab a grocery flyer, positioning himself so he could kiss her cheek. 'I'll make a mental note and be sure to stock up on tea and pizza sauce in my pantry.'


	10. Bread and Butter

Had anyone told him he'd be gladly spending the morning of his day off with his girlfriend grocery shopping and loving being the cart-bitch, Spike would have laughed in their faces. Yet here he was, resting his forearms on the pushbar of the cart as he watched Winnie have a debate between types of mushrooms in the Zehrs produce section.

'Winnie, not to be the lughead here, but does it make a different what mushrooms you get? You put 'em on pizza, you put 'em on steak, they are delicious.'

'I'm making creamy mushroom soup for Jules. She has been craving mushrooms and she asked if I could do some up for her so she doesn't get all those preservatives in canned food.'

'Health nut.'

'Hey, I worked too damn hard to get off the weight I'd gained when my parents divorced, I do not consider myself to be a health nut,' Winnie countered, decided on chanterelles, portobellos and porccinis. 'I'll be damned if I'm gonna let that happen once more to me.'

'Stress eating?'

'They told me and Shannie they were splitting up two months after I finished my first year at uni, and I spiraled out a bit. Being home there was a lot of people bringign by comfort foods, and after I went back to school, I looked for the same stuff.'

'I get that,' Spike nodded, saw bell peppers were on sale. He liked when she made fajitas for her lunch; the smell of the spices combined with Winnie's beauty made him think of taking her to a private little cove in Baja where they could eat tacos and go skinny dipping in crystal blue water. Absently he picked up a bag, selected green, red and yellow. 'When my dad died, not a lot of people saw it but I spiraled too.'

'I saw it. You doing those dangerous calls, trying to break yourself from feeling numb, right?'

'Psychic health-nut,' Spike joked, which made her laugh; he grabbed her hand, guided it away from the yellow onions to the vidalia onions. 'Those are better flavour.'

'Thought you weren't into cooking.'

'All Italians are born with the basics,' he retorted regally, 'and you'll get a taste of my barbecuing skills next weekend, which are pretty damn awesome if I say so myself.'

'Do you now?' Winnie smiled, loving how Spike got all puffy when his manhood was challenged in such a fashion.

'My people are from Campania, we love being out in the sun and grilling our veggies. Plus having a backyard on my place, no matter how microscopic it might be, is something I never get tired of. The guys love coming to Beverly Street for beer and wings night when we're not at the Goose.'

'Cool.' Winnie tried to picture herself having a girls night in her small space and couldn't really envision it beyond three or four people, herself included. 'Are those nights usually for boys only?'

'Sometimes, other times spouses, dates and kids are welcome. All depends on the mood of the team when we plan it if it's a time to get away or come together.' Spike arched an eyebrow when she popped both plum tomatoes and beefsteak tomatoes into the cart. 'You planning on making soup?'

'No.'

'But you hate tomatoes. Sorry, you don't like them,' he self-corrected; Winnie couldn't stand hearing people casually use the word 'hate' when they didn't really mean it. 'You don't like tomatoes very much, so why getting so many?'

'I was going to show you how to make my secret-weapon from-scratch barbecue sauce but if you'd rather buy something in a bottle, I can let you do that too.'

Spike smiled, and leaving his spot on the grocery cart, cupped the back of her neck and gave her a juicy kiss by the ginger-root. 'You are wonderful, Winnie.'

'You are just as awesome, Mike. Potatoes?'

'Can you make more of those latke thingies?' he asked with such enthusiasm that Winnie had to laugh as she nudged the cart along since Spike had dropped the ball on that particular duty.

'I was planning to make baked potato soup with them, but once more, I can always defer to your tastebuds, _honey_.'

'Oh no, no no, never call me that,' Spike warned her, an edge coming into his friendly tone. 'A girl I was involved with used to call me that and I couldn't stand it when she did that, made me feel like she saw me as some kind of pet.'

'Let me guess, one of your club-rat booty calls from your days scamming girls with Lou?'

'Worse.' He looked around as they moved out of produce to the butcher's counter, eyes roaming over the cuts of beef, the turkey and chicken breasts already prepped for poaching and grilling. 'Promise me you'll let this one go?'

'Tell me first then I'll decide.'

'Fair enough. It was Sam's sister Nat who called me honey.'

'Oh.' Winnie felt a sick little punch in her gut, waited until she'd had the butcher wrap up three modest sized steaks. She tried to listen to the voice in her head that said the question was better left unasked, yet she found herself asking him, 'Did she used to say that in bed or something?'

'Nope, we, ah, we never hooked up like that. She was a nice girl but I just couldn't see it lasting with her, and I value my friendship with Sam too much to make him think I'm a jerk looking for an easy score in Natalie when she's trying to get herself back together after that whole ordeal with her ex.'

'Understandable.'

'I don't want you thinking too hard on that first part though.'

'What first part?'

Spike turned to drop a couple packets of Club-House spice-kits into the cart; he'd seen one in Winnie's cupboard when he'd found her box of Keurig coffee that morning. 'The part when I said I didn't see it lasting with her which is why we didn't end up in bed together. I hope you don't think that's why I haven't- I mean that we haven't taken that step yet.'

'What means yet?' Winnie laughed, relief flooding through her that Spike had brought this up on his own. 'We had our first real kiss, what four days ago? You and me, we're different than you and Natalie were, you can't pit those two things against each other, that's like comparing ice cream and souffle.'

She took his hand, threaded her fingers with his. 'I'm not some tall blonde hottie who just waltzed in and dazzled you, I'm...I'm Winnie.'

'Exactly.' Spike tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, kissed her lightly before they continued on to the seafood counter. You are Winnie, and you are one hundred percent with the wait. Now, you want haddock or salmon?'

They continued the excursion through the mundane task of grocery shopping in true new-couple fashion, laughing at each other as they each added items to the cart - Winnie was cool with him added a few of his own things to her list, Spike noted - and he began to see just how passionate a foodie Winnie was. Listening to her create menus out of thin air just by looking at ingredients was something he'd always taken for granted that his beloved mother had always done. He'd grown up in that Italian household - Spike hadn't known others were different from that until he'd visited friend's apartment during university and the academy; then he'd seen people claiming things homemade that were from a box and he'd truly begun to appreciate his mother's creativity in the kitchen.

He hadn't counted, either, on finding Winnie's thinking outloud about food so damn sexy. It had to be her voice, he decided, listening to its sweet cadence rise and fall, and remembering how brutally arousing he'd found that voice when it was moaning in his ear about how good he made her felt, how she was so close to orgasm, and-

'Mike?'

'Yeah?'

'I was asking you what salad dressing you like better, raspberry olive oil or bleu cheese?'

'Olive oil,' he replied automatically, praying he didn't look like a moron walking around Zehrs with a huge hard-on because he was fantasizing about getting his girlfriend naked again. They'd turned into the water and soft-drinks aisle, where Spike saw a perfect opportunity to regain a little composure and maybe win a few sexy-cool points with Winnie - the cases were stacked in a pyramid so that they had to be retrieved by someone tall than Winnie most definitely was. He pointed to where the sparkling water sat near the top of the pile. 'You want a case of club soda?'

'Make it three, I drink a lot of it. The PC Low Sodium one, the one with the red stripe,' she added, then let her eyes roam freely when she watched him flex his arms, which sent the discreet muscles rippling away under his shirt. Hottie, she thought with a happy little smile, and he's all mine. Part of her, the very naughty horny half of her, wondered if they'd have time to get a little naked - or a lot naked - before their date at the SkyDome. Maybe this time, he wouldn't just use his hands, but his tongue on her-

'Winnie, here, take one of these so I can grab the third case.' Spike passed her the box, which she promptly put in the cart, careful not to crush the eggs or other delicate items. He glanced over his shoulder, grinned when he saw her looking a little glassy-eyed. Damn if that didn't puff up his ego to have Winnie admiring him. 'Going over your list in your head?'

'Something like that. We still need to hit up the cereal aisle.'

'For what? You don't like cereal, you like toast.'

'You like Mini-Wheats,' she countered, shoving the somehow overflowing cart around the corner. 'Grab a box, I'm going to get in line.'

'I'll join you in a moment.'

'Did you change your mind on the stuff to make panini?'

'Something else.' He kissed her to prevent what Spike surely knew would be another question, then zipped off, leaving Winnie staring after him before she turned her attention to her grocery cart. She stared, blinking at all the food in the wire basket - surely this was an oops, as she definitely didn't have that much on her list. Then again, she'd also picked up a couple things here and there for the freezer because there was an ins-tore sale, and then there was the few things she knew she wanted to have in the cupboard for Spike when he spent the night, like his Mini-Wheats or the blueberries he couldn't live with out because that was his thing in the mornings - fresh fruit, coffee and cereal.

She began dividing up the spoils, organized her goods into the usual game of Tetris she always played at the grocery store checkout and was so preocupied with calculating her budget that she didn't notice the wrapped florist's packet until it was pretty much right under her nose. She glanced up, saw Spike there grinning so the dimple in his right cheek was winking away like a diamond in the morning sun.

'What is that?'

'Well, I got it in the floral department so I'm going with new car.' Spike came up behind her, gave her a little squeeze before attending to his own snacks in the cart. 'Besides, isn't that what a good boyfriend does? Brings flowers on a first date?'

'I thought our first date was that night after I collapsed in tears in your arms when Greg was shot?'

'That's when we began dating, but our first on-the-town date is today. Free of tears from hot wings or emotional turmoil and best of all, the prying eyes of Team One.'

Winnie laughed as she stacked boxes of crackers on the conveyor belt. 'Yeah, that is very true. And who says there won't be tears of emotional turmoil today? The Jays are playing the Angels, the Angels' starting pitcher has an ERA of two-point-six-seven which is like microscopic compared to the Jays' starter Fernando, who is at three-point-one-two. If he gives it up and gets shit-canned before the middle of the third, you just might see me cry. If the Jays want to have any hope of making it to the All-Star break in a good-way, they need this game.'

'Well.' Spike waited a beat before picking up the bag of baking potatoes and his bottles of lemon juice for his special homemade lemonade. 'Guess I've been schooled, huh?'

'My dad loves baseball. It was one of the first North American things he got to try when he was a little boy just arrived from Oranjestad.'

'Netherlands?'

'Close. Netherlands Antilles, back in the day. Anyways, he fell in love with baseball and he raised me and my sister to become his junkie proteges. He even shares a birthday with Roberto Alomar.'

'Kinda like how my dad was about football. Screamed his lungs out for AC Milan.'

Winnie heard the sweetness in the memory, knew despite the issues Spike had had with his father over his chosen job there was a deep love there and it was because they'd been so similar that they'd clashed so much. She looked at the cart, saw there was a box of lady fingers there; she jutted her chin at them. 'Those snacks for Sunday morning football?'

'I promised Ed I would make some tiramisu for him to give to Sophie and Izzy. The little girl loves her sweets.'

'Excuse me, when your wife is ready sir,' the cashier told them, 'I've got her items rung through.'

'Oh, sure, _dear_,' Spike teased Winnie, overemphasizing the word which made her giggle. 'Are you using the chequing or the Visa?'

'Chequing, _honey_, I just paid off the Visa,' she replied; Winnie knew her man well enough to know whatever his personal feelings about the notion they were in a romantic relationship less than a week and being mistaken for married, he would have much more fun trying to make her flustered.

Handing over her banking card for processing, Winnie sighed happily as she watched Spike do his own little organizing of his items, wondered if he too was an almost pathological sorter of boxes and canned goods the way she was in the kitchen. It drove her nuts whenever she had 'help' in the kitchen - they just didn't know her system. Still, one look at the man currently unloading two boxes of Mini-Wheats along with steaks and other veggies and Winnie knew she would let him into her quirks and insanity because around him, it didn't feel quirky or insane, it just felt...right.

'Sir, would you like these separate?' the cashier asked, picking up the mystery item Spike had gone off to fetch; he nodded in response.

'Yes, the lady can babysit her surprise.'

'Can I open my surprise?' Winnie inquired playfully, and Spike kissed her cheek as he drew nearer to pay for his food.

'At home, darling. What?'

'Darling? No. That's not us.'

'Yeah, it's really not,' Spike agreed.

'I thought Italians always liked that whole _cara mia_ routine. Or not,' Winnie amended when she watched him shudder dramatically while calling for a taxi.

'That's what my pops called my ma when he was trying to charm her out of a bad mood.'

'Okay, not that one either.'

Groceries bought and the cab on its way, they headed outside with the spoils of their foray into the supermarket. Winnie tipped her face up to the sun, smiled at the summer warmth she felt; the warmth came from the inside out as Spike's hand slipped into hers. 'Mike?'

'Yeah.'

'That is without out a doubt the most romantic trip to Zehrs I've ever had.' She turned, kissed him and felt that silvery shimmer pass over her when his tongue nudged her lips apart to trace the outline of her open mouth. A light moan turned into a groan of modest frustration. 'We can finish that kiss off before the game today, right?'

'Oh yeah. In the meantime I'll take care of the food and you...' Spike trailed off as the taxi rolled to a stop at the curb; the trunk popped open and he passed her the packet from the floral department. 'You be pretty and hold those while I load up our shit.'

'Remember this,' Winnie advised him. 'Me holding flowers, looking all nice and girly.'

'Okay, why?'

'Let's just say holding onto a sexy image will probably help you remember why you want to date me when you see me eating chilli cheese fries and yelling at the third-base umpire.'

'Winnie, the idea of you eating chilli cheese fries with me at the ballpark cheering on our baseball birds only adds to the sexy.'

'Really?'

'Absolutely.'

Winnie cocked her head to the side. 'And what if I'm eating a chilli dog?'

'I'm a red-blood man with a pulse, that would just give me ideas.'


	11. Something To Talk About

There was little Winnie enjoyed more than a day at the ballpark. Unless, of course, it was spending said day at the ballpark with a very fine man who had told her hours before that her affection for chilli cheese fries would not be interpreted as a 'one of the boys' move. That was just great, especially since it meant she could get the big size to share with him. Even better, said deliciously hunky man had no problem holding said fries when she was ready to leap out of her seat at a moment's notice because the Jays' star hitter socked a dinger square into left field for a two-run double.

'That's the way you do it!' she hollered along with the rest of the crowd, pumping her fists like a Jersey Shore frat boy. 'That's how you get it done!'

'My girlfriend is The Situation,' Spike teased her as she sat back down, took a pull from her beer in its souvenir plastic cup. 'Who knew our Wonderful Winnie of Oz was such a sports nut?'

'Wonderful Winnie of Oz?'

'Sam called you that once when he was on some painkillers,' Spike explained, adjusting the brim of his ballcap to shade his eyes from the afternoon sun.

'Painkillers from Doctor Johnny Walker? Or was it Doctor Seagram?'

'Painkillers from Mister Vicodin after he got thrown into the wall when we had that perfect bomb by the rocket scientist.'

'Oh.' Winnie nodded, remembering that case all too well - that had been the same afternoon that Spike had lost his father. Rather than dwelling on the darkness of it, she held up her index finger and thumb to make a pinching motion. 'Fry me.'

'Be my guest, they are your fries.' Spike handed over her fork, swallowed when he watched her lick the tip of her finger that was covered in sauce. 'Must you do that in public, babe?'

'What?'

'Lick stuff. You're giving me ideas.'

Winnie wiggled happily, munched a fry. 'Mike, I had no idea you were such a sex addict. Besides, you and I got to have a little naked fun before we got here.'

Spike thought of how they'd gone home to Winnie's place, put away her groceries and as promised, had fooled around like they had the night before. It had made them both feel decadent and naughty at the same time, as neither were terribly used to daytime intimacy. He remembered with greatly vivid detail how her tongue had traced over his skin, finding all those intimate places he hadn't even known were craving her touch.

He knew it was probably a chicken-shit thing to do, putting off something as natural in a relationship as sex but this wasn't just any relationship, this was Winnie. His dream-girl, Winona Michelle Camden and he knew as much as he wanted to make love to her, with her, he was equally terrified something would happen and he'd screw it up. Or worse, somehow he'd do something - something job-related, probably - to fuck it all up. Part of him was still in the limbo of belief that Winnie actually wanted him; he knew he was a catch but he'd never had someone mean to him what she did.

Was he going overboard thinking this hard on something that came so naturally to both of them? Or was he seeing things clearly now that the adrenaline rush of the bombings was beginning to clear? Or was he just being a big sissy, whining about his good luck?

'You are thinking too hard, Mike.'

Winnie looked at him, spooning up chilli. 'What could possibly be so important when we are enjoying the Jays game on a beautiful summer day?'

'Sex.'

'Oh and the fact we're not having any yet after less than a week means that we're not right for each other,' Winnie said with a note of sarcasm, 'so instead of getting to know each other as more than friends and making that our new normal together, we should either call it quits or just hurry up and get it over with. Yeah, makes total sense.'

'Okay, seriously, how did you not make it onto a field team with psych skills like that?'

'I had an injury in my pre-SRU days that prevented me from passing the physical, but they liked me enough that I was made a dispatcher. Technically I can be in the field in the command-post truck running research, but that's not the point right now.' Winnie leaned in close to him, wishing they were in a far more private setting to have this kind of conversation. 'I get it. It's scary for me too. What if...what if you've wanted me this long and then when you...I mean when we take that step, what if I'm no good in your eyes?'

'No good?' At her expression, Spike realized something else equally important - as uncomfortable as it might be, talking about past relationships appeared to be a subject they would have to talk about sooner rather than later. 'Someone said that to you?'

'Yeah. This guy in university, in my second year, we'd been friends and he'd always joked about how if he didn't have a girlfriend we'd be great together. Girlfriend left him and a few months later we got together. We waited a bit to get physical and then when we did, it was the best I'd had up to that point in my life.'

'He felt otherwise?'

'And then some. Told me I was 'disappointingly new' to sex, and I was a little, I'd only had a couple boyfriends and he was only the fourth guy I'd been with in my life so it made sense why things went south after that.'

'No, it doesn't,' Spike answered in protest. He paused to cheer along with Winnie when the Jays retired the side with three runs in total to give them a two-run lead over the Angels. 'No, that makes no sense to me, Winnie.'

'How do you mean?'

'Because if this guy had given a damn about you in the first place, he wouldn't have told you something like that to your face and if he did find you disappointing, he'd have been a hell of a lot nicer about it.'

'Would you have been so kind when you were barely twenty, Mike?' Winnie asked him, drinking beer to clear the cotton feeling in her throat.

'Yes, actually I was. I found myself in a similar situation with this nice girl in my uni chem lab in third year. Her name was Evangaline Dellacosta. Nice Italian girl, my parents really liked her and her folks were happy she'd found a nice Italian boy too. We had some good times together, but the physical stuff...' He trailed off shook his head. 'We just couldn't do it for each other there, we didn't work together well, and both of us knew it but I couldn't bring myself to hurt her feelings like that.'

'Then you are a rarity, Michelangelo,' Winnie replied with total love in her voice for him. 'All the nice boys I knew had zero clue wanted I wanted and the guys who got me going expected some kind of porn star when we were in bed together. No middle ground.'

'Well, then.' Spike leaned over, kissed her neck before letting his lips linger near her ear. 'Good thing for me I'm bossy in bed, remember?'

'Oh yeah, that I do remember.'

'Good. Hey.' Spike put his fingertips to her chin, turned her face to his and kissed her lightly, sweetly, on the mouth. 'Winnie, just so we're clear, that guy who said you were disappointing in bed?'

'Yeah?'

'He's a fucking moron.'

'No pun intended?' she giggled, and the sound had Spike grinning when the joke clicked in his brain.

'Nope.'

'Heads up!'

The cry came from one of the spectators behind them, and Spike glanced up to see the popped-fly foul heading towards their section. He stood up, calculating the distance and reaching out a hand, snagged the baseball in a bare-knuckle grip which had everyone around them cheering wildly.

'For you, milady,' he said, tossing the ball to his google-eyed girlfriend. He blinked, waved a hand in front of her eyes as she just continued to stare at the ball. 'Winona? You with me, sweetie?'

'Oh yeah, just...flashback, that's all.'

'I sense there's a story there.'

Winnie gave him a gloating look as she took another sip of her beer. 'How about I pull out your favourite card and say it's a story for another day?'

'Oof, my own weapons used against me. That feels good.'

'I'll kiss it better for you.' Winnie glanced at her phone, calculated the time. 'When do you have to be at work tomorrow?'

'I'm on days so I'll be in for five. You?'

'Late-days. Ten to seven, and I've got some things to do before going back on nights on Monday.'

'That's cool, I gotta get my laundry for the week done too. And if we're spending the night apart, phone sex.'

Winnie laughed again, partly in amusement and partly in defense at knowing he was serious. 'So when will we get to have our next date?'

'I was thinking I'd surprise you.'

'Oh, that's nice.'

She said it with such wistfulness that Spike felt his insides go warm and sweet like a melted cherry Popsicle. 'You take care of me when I'm in the field, the least I can do is make sure I take care of my girlfriend.'

'Well, you did buy me flowers today.' Winnie thought of the brightly coloured blooms in the vase on her kitchen table; neither of them had any clue what the proper name for the flowers was, but it was the principle of the thing - he'd bought her flowers, the guy who spent his days defusing bombs and taking down hardened criminals, had ducked out of the line at the grocery store to get her flowers. 'Don't guys usually bring chocolate or candy or something?'

'Oh, Winnie, I know my girlfriend well.' Spike leaned passed her, stuck two fingers in his mouth. 'Yo, dude! Over here!'

She looked to her left, put her fingertips to her mouth when she saw that Spike was flagging down the Haagen-Das guy. He really did know his girlfriend, she thought, when he got three different kinds of dipped bars - classic chocolate, chocolate almond or butterscotch ripple - and held them out like a magician showing off his not-at-all-suspicious deck of cards.

'Chose your weapon.'

'Almond, please.'

'Good, I'd hate to fight you for the chocolate.'

'And here I thought I was your chocolate treat,' Winnie purred at him, unwrapping her ice cream bar and deliberately giving it a slow lick; now that she knew how nutty that made his libido, she intended to tease him as best she could so when she got him home, they would hardly be able to control themselves.

'Which makes me your toasted almond goodness,' Spike replied, winking at her so slyly that when he saw the glitter in her eyes, he knew they would be heading home and getting even closer than they had before the game.

'I think we can safely agree when it comes to pet names for each other, food is off the table.'

'Agreed.'

* * *

Riding high on the joy of a Jays victory, Winnie was all but dancing down the street with Spike anchoring her to the sidewalk when they headed home. It should have felt odd that she was so comfortable calling his place home too, but then again, there was nothing most outsiders would consider normal about their relationship. As they'd made mention of that afternoon, they'd known each other as friends for five years but as something more, it was less than a week. Why should they put so much pressure on themselves? And as long as they were happy, hot for each other, what rush was their to add sex into the mix when they were getting used to that new level of intimacy already?

Winnie followed Spike into his house, slanting her eyes down to look at his ass as he bent to fit the key into the deadbolt. Yep, the view was just as nice right here, she decided.

'You want a drink or anything?' Spike asked her, flipping on the television to channel surf until he found SportsNet. 'Help yourself, plenty of beer and juice in the fridge.'

'Sure.'

Winnie opened the door to see if he had any of that Italian spring water he was so fond of bringing to her whenever his mother sent gift-packs from Europe. She let out a little laugh as she pulled out two bottles of the stuff, along with a carton of tropical fruit punch.

Glancing over from where he was stretching his legs on the couch, Spike caught sight of her laughing; it was his favourite look on her, well favourite look outside the bedroom. God, his hormones were reaching near-embarrassing levels he thought absently. 'What's so funny?'

'Just thinking how I did all that grocery shopping this morning and my cupboards are nearly full, and here we are spending the evening together at your place and you've barely got two tins of soup to your name.'

'Well, we can always go for a walk back to your place, wear off all that ballpark cuisine and spend the night there.'

'I guess we can. So...why did we come back here first then?'

'So I could get my stuff to stay over?' God she was cute when she was flustered, Spike thought. 'Besides, I left my truck at your place anyways, so I'd have to go that way to get it before my shift tomorrow.'

'Also very true.'

'Drink?' Spike suddenly found himself nervous, like they were on their first date...which, in a sense, they were, he realized. This was their first time getting to do something together that wasn't a household chore or have their night out crashed by the rest of their friends. Breathing deeply, quietly, he went to his liquor trolley, found the bottle of amaretto and showed it off to her. 'I remember from Sam's birthday if it's not beer, it's all sweetness for you.'

'Sounds great.' Winnie smiled as she set down the spring water, hoping her anxiousness didn't show. They'd hit all the right notes of a first date today - food, the sex talk, the day out together _alone_ for once, the sweet little kisses and teasing hints of something more. She figured after having practically lectured him in the middle of the SkyDome there would be nothing for them like that tonight - just another thing she was talented at, screwing up perfectly nice times because of her own baffling insecurities.

Then he passed her the drink he'd fixed her - amaretto with ginger-ale and a dash of margarita mix in lieu of sours - and all that stupid shit her funny little brain had come up with just made no sense. What made sense was the fact she had a sexy, smart, warm - the hell with it - _loving_ man in her life now and he knew her, and understood her and accepted her with all her flaws.

'Mike?'

'Yeah?'

'I should have broken my rule for you the first time you asked me to dinner,' she told him softly, with such sweetness that Spike set down his own glass, took hers out of her hand, and just gathered her close. 'I was such an idiot because I was so scared of...of ruining the fantasy of you.'

He kissed her, gently yet passionately, the need for her humming through his blood like an electric current that refused to shut off; she felt it too, he could tell from the way she kissed him back, those delicately capable hands kneading into his shoulders to keep him near to her body. It wasn't lust they needed now, but reassurance - however much Winnie liked to tease him about taking things slowly, Spike knew it was her way of processing her own feelings too.

'Winona,' he murmured against her temple, 'the real you is better than any fantasy.'

'Mike.' Now it was Winnie who kissed him back, giving him the same comfort that he'd given her. 'How do you always come up with the exactly right words for me?'

'I just...I just say it, I don't have to think about it.'

'We've got the whole night to ourselves before I have to head home so you can sleep-'

'Stay.' Spike bumped his forehead against hers. 'I'll leave you my spare key so you can sleep in. We'll walk over to your place, wear off that ballpark food like you said, get my truck and your clothes for work.'

'You don't think the team's gonna still be acting like a bunch of gossipy coconut women when both of us are at work tomorrow, do you?'

'Oh, yeah, they will,' he laughed, 'but do you expect any less of them?'

'Not at all.'

Winnie grinned with a flutter in her belly. 'Why don't we take that walk over to my place, before we get too...cozy and comfy and have our energy all used up and forget?'

'Sounds great.'


	12. Arms

The dream came that night. Spike had wondered how long it would take him to reach that point, see those faces he saw after every bomb that went off where he couldn't save everyone, even though he'd done everything right in the situation.

It came to him the same way it always did - Lou was there, standing in the surf of Montego Bay in Jamaica. He wasn't in his SRU gear but in black surf shorts and a bright green Jamaican national team soccer jersey, shielding his vision against the rays of the setting sun with his hand above his eyes.

'Spike, man, can't believe we're back here,' he said with that smooth laugh in his voice, the way it always was when he was getting the better of his best friend.

'Why is it always here?'

'Don't ask me, you picked it.'

'Yeah, I did.'

Spike had picked it - they'd needed to take that vacation, both of them to get away from the job. After the calls they'd taken over the winter, Jules coming back from being shot, they'd said fuck it and cashed in some of that stored up vacation time. Lou was a seasoned traveler but Spike's international trips had been mostly to Italy to visit family; he'd never been to the Caribbean so he'd decided on a classic. Sunset Beach had been chock full of exactly what they'd been looking for - good food, down time in the surf and sun, and by pure luck Brigit Hampstead, an old friend from high school who'd given Spike the best vacation sex of his life. Lou hadn't let him live that one down at all, even going so far as to have a bottle of champagne sent to Brigit's room on night two of their sweaty seventy-two hours together.

Of course, upon returning to the station and telling their friends about their trip had also meant that Winnie had heard about it and assumed correctly about his vacation activities, which had turned the soft summery vacation glow of that memory into a hard patent-leather shine, false like the sugar of hard candy. Whatever he might have mentioned to Winnie in passing, to tell her it was nothing more or less than a holiday hookup, everything about that morning was obliterated by what happened by three pm that day.

'Why did you say that to me, Lou?'

'Say what?'

'Say that everything was going to be okay.'

Lou shrugged, unmoving in the water that lapped around his ankles even though he somehow managed to keep pace as Spike wandered up and down the shore looking for turtles to take pictures of for Winnie. She loved turtles, he'd known the little things about her like that, even when he was being a guy and banging another woman in the hot tropical sun. He found one, a little emerald green guy, wandering along on the edge of the surf. Spike crouched to put him back in the water, just in time to see the waves wash back and Lou's left foot was now covered in his combat boot, standing on a starfish that needed to be diffused.

'Lou, buddy, don't move or that bomb is gonna blow you sky-high.'

'Mikey, why you gotta do this?'

Now it was his father, not the sick old man he'd been at the end, but the vibrant young one Domenic Scarlatti had been when Spike had first joined the police force. The lecturing tone was the same, though, the same holier-than-thou father-knows-best condescension that Spike had learned to live with his entire career, and would give anything to hear in his waking hours once more. 'He's not your family, he's not your kin.'

'He is my brother in every way that counts,' Spike snapped back, trying to find something to diffuse the starfish landmine and coming up with only a few sticks of black coral in lieu of a tac-knife and his usual bag of tricks for rendering bombs safe. For the millionth time, he couldn't save his best friend, and for the millionth time, as he came to this realization, his father began to cough. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw him fall, collapsing with spastic coughing fits. 'Pa!'

He rushed to his father's side, torn at having to leave his best friend once more. 'Pa, I'm here, I'll..I'll get you a drink or something.'

'Spike, you need to make sure Winnie knows how you feel, never forget to tell her,' Lou told him. 'Even if you can't say that big scary thing just yet.'

'What big scary thing?'

'That you love her.'

'It's been four days.'

'No, for you it's been about four years and four days, but don't worry bro, she's there too. You just need time to find your nerve to tell her.'

'Right now I need time to think about how to take care of you both.'

'Michelangelo, listen to your friend.' Domenic used all his strength to get the words out, pointing a rail thin finger over Spike's shoulder; the young man glanced over, saw the whole thing in slow motion - Lou gave him a slow smile, his mouth forming the words.

'It's gonna be okay.'

'Lou no, no! No stay with me, stay with me buddy! Don't you do this! I can fix it!'

'You know where you need to be, Michelangelo,' Domenic wheezed out, then went silent, and the silence was deafening as Spike saw Lou nod before lifting his foot and the whole world was orange and black. He opened his mouth to scream but no words word come out, as though all his breath was gone from his body.

He tried to move forward, saw the lights going dim around him as he kept trying to call out for his friend, but only heard the voice of what surely was an angel, telling him to come back to her.

When his eyes flew open and he launched himself forward, ready to save his long-since-gone friend, it took him about three seconds to realize he wasn't trying to save Lou and his father and failing on each front, but in his own bed. The voice he'd heard was indeed his angel.

'No!'

'Mike! Mike, it's okay, it's okay, I'm here.'

Winnie had felt him fidgeting beside her in his sleep, woken up and sat up to see him grabbing at the sheets like he was trying to pick something up and mumbling about starfish. When he'd begun to call out for Lou, his father, she'd tried to shake him awake but he was so deeply entrenched in the nightmare she could only hope he woke up soon on his own.

Now he was most definitely back here, wild-eyed with pure panic, chest heaving from the effort of his pounding heart. One look at his face and Winnie was wrapping her arms around him, squeezing tight to try and decompress his nervous system to bring him back to Earth. 'Mike, it's okay, I'm here, I'm here.'

'Winnie.' Her name was almost prayer-like on his lips, and Spike fell his eyes fill up - he was suddenly a child again, disappointing his father and letting down his friend. 'Winnie, I couldn't do it, I couldn't save them.'

'Who?'

'My dad and...and Lou.'

'Oh, Mike.' Winnie gave a sigh that was perilously close to a sob, but never let go, just held him tightly. She let a little tear slip out when she felt his own arms come around her. 'Mike, I...I...do you get this dream often?'

'On a bomb call that goes wrong.'

'Have you talked to someone about it?'

'Yeah, the department shrink said that I still have residual grief from both their deaths and until I stop feeling guilty about them dying, I'll still...I will still see them on nights like this.'

'You may not like this, but maybe there's another reason you think of them when things don't go the right way for a bomb-guy like you.'

Spike could feel his heartrate coming back to normal as he listened to her, made the sound of her voice and the touch of her skin his focus. 'What's that?'

'Maybe they're reminders that you're human.'

'I know I'm human, that's why they are gone.'

'Oh Mike.' Winnie knew her sigh of sadness would probably come off as annoyance but hopefully he would understand her words, the place in her heart where they came from. 'Mike, baby, maybe they are coming to you because they are trying to remind you that even though you do everything right, sometimes there is no way to save everyone else. And maybe...maybe Lou's there to remind you that even though you couldn't save his life, he saved yours so you could help more people than he got the chance to.'

He didn't say a word, making Winnie wonder if she'd jammed her foot in her mouth so far that he was going to call her a n idiot and shut himself down away from her. She realized her instincts were way off when she heard him let out a shaky breath, felt his shoulders begin to shudder.

'Oh, sweetie. Oh, God, Mike, it's okay, it's okay.' Winnie moved so she knelt in the bed, pulled him in to her so his temple rested near her heart. 'It hurts to lose people the way you've lost so many.'

'Everyone I've cared about has left me, one way or another. Lou blew up, Wordy got sick and transferred out, my pops died of emphysema, Raf switched to Team Four, Ma went back to Italy, and you-'

'I'm right here, Mike. I'm not going anywhere.'

'Promise?'

The word was so full of such tenuous hope that Winnie knew however strong her cop was, a man she suspected defined himself by his career choice, he was still a man in need of reassurance that he was still worth something beyond his badge. 'Michelangelo, I promise you, I'm not going anywhere. I am right here.'

Spike wrapped his arms around her, squeezing his eyes shut. He'd known he wanted her for a long time, longer than he probably would even admit to himself; what he hadn't anticipated was needing her in these dark moments. He loathed when those occasions of vulnerability slipped out from behind the guard-dog of his sneaky sarcastic sense of humour, he knew there was probably a small part of eveyrone on the team who looked at him with a sliver of pity - _poo Mikey, he's been through so much_ - every time he had a call go south or a relationship break up on him.

Yet here they both were, himself scraped raw from the nightmare he could never change and his beautiful angelic Winona holding him gently as a baby as she actually stroked her hands over his hair, his neck, his back to soothe his troubled mind. It was like he'd been drowning and she was his fresh air, as the water left his lungs with every touch of her skin to his. It was the first time he'd been held by someone after he'd had this nightmare - none of the women he'd been with since Lou's death had gotten it, and Spike had learned to deal with it himself. Not with drinking or pills but just talking himself down, like he was his own subject on thee edge.

He'd forgotten what it could mean to just simply hold on to someone who cared, maybe even loved him back. Lifting his head, he touched his lips lightly to hers, felt her tenderness as she kissed him back before simply holding onto him again.

Yes. Yes, once again, his best friend was right.

Winnie felt his grief begin to ebb as she kissed him, felt her own heart squelch in agony that he was torn apart by a demon he faced time and time again and was never able to conquer entirely. He needed to know he wasn't alone on that front. 'Mike,' she murmured to him, 'put some clothes on, we'll go have tea.'

'Tea?'

'Yes.' Winnie looked at the clock - quarter past midnight. 'I know you gotta be up soon, but I'd rather you have a drink with me now and get a few hours of sleep than just lie in bed feeling like shit.'

'Tea,' he repeated. 'I've only got coffee.'

'Okay. We'll figure something out then.'

Winnie pressed another kiss to his mouth, then slipped out of bed, tugged on the sleep-pants she'd ditched on the off-chance he wanted to play before bedtime. She gave him a few moments while she headed downstairs to his kitchen and thanked her lucky stars when she saw the Nesquik in his fridge along with a two-litre carton of two-percent milk Perfect, he needed something as innocent as this right now.

Finding a saucepan, she poured in milk to let it begin steaming away while she searched for something to jazz up the hot chocolate. Despite his protestations he wasn't much of a chef Winnie found a decent enough bin of spices in the cupboard where he kept his canned goods and dry pasta. She found almond extract, cayenne, ground cinnamon and eyeballed the amount she stirred into the pot. As the edges began to foam, she squeezed in the Nesquik until the white milk began a beautiful earthy cocoa colour.

'That smells great.'

Winnie looked up, saw Spike was still bare-chested but had added his summer-weight sleep pants. His hair was indeed sticking up in spikes at right angles to his head, and there were shadows under his eyes. She smiled softly at him as she shut off the gas on the stove.

'My own secret weapon recipe.'

'You have a few of those.'

'Yes, saved for special people and special occasions.' Winnie turned back, reached into the cupboard where she knew she'd find coffee cups. 'Remember earlier today, I told you I had an injury that meant I could still be a cop at SRU just not in the field?'

'Yeah, I do.'

'That was from a car crash about six years ago, when I was applying to Team Three. I'd passed all the evals, and I knew I'd nailed the physical stress-tests so there was nothing to do but wait for a decision. Rachel and my little brother Aaron were so excited for me they insisted we go to dinner, so we went to El Sombrero because Aaron and I both love enchiladas. Seven years old and he could have chicken fingers or pizza but no, my little brother wants refried beans and guacamole.'

'Sounds like he's quite the kid.'

'He is amazing. Anyways, Rachel, she asked if I minded driving home since she had a glass of wine with dinner and I wasn't drinking because I was too damn nervous about hearing back on the position. We were all buckled into the car, and I was sitting at a red light, waiting my turn at the intersection when the guy behind us rear-ended Rachel's car, shoved us into the intersection, and the driver's side was t-boned by a drunk driver.'

'Oh my god, was everyone okay?'

'My stepmom and Aaron were fine, cuts and bruises, Aaron had a small concussion, but because I was the driver, I was hit the hardest and my whole lower half was pinned in. I had a couple of broken ribs, jammed shoulder, and my knee took the worst of it. You probably didn't notice the Nike-swoosh scar, huh?'

'No, I didn't,' Spike replied, blowing on the hot chocolate she set in front of him.

'Three weeks in the hospital for two surgeries, one to put in a small support bar just under my kneecap and the second to repair ligament damage from my knee being wrench against the steering column when it crumpled. That's how come I'm awesome with the negotiations and sitting at the dispatcher's post. And it took me almost a year to get there, after therapy for my knee and the guilt.'

'That you were the only one hurt?'

'No, from my mother.' Winnie paused to sip her hot chocolate. 'That I shouldn't have been there at all, I should have taken her up on her offer to have wings and a movie at her place to celebrate instead of being out with my father's blonde whore and her son. If I had, I wouldn't have been in surgery and gotten the bittersweet news that I'd been chosen but would be now sidelined pending my return to active duty and a full medical evaluation.'

'Shit. That's rough, and totally uncalled for.'

'Yeah, it is,' she agreed, 'but I had some great friends to talk to, and therapy helped a lot so...you can talk to me. I'm here for the good and the bad, Mike, just like I promised you. Or should I say, 'Il buono e il bruto.'

'Chocolate and she tries to speak Italian?' Spike winked at her, feeling once more like himself. 'I'm going to be keeping very busy chasing guys away from my girlfriend.'


	13. Good Vibrations

Two weeks later, just as things were settling back to normal, Spike stood staring at his open locker trying to get his head around the curve ball they'd been tossed. He'd finally gotten his rhythm back, despite the chaos they'd all been thrown into after the bombing: two days after their fun at the ballpark had been Donna Sabine's funeral. That had been hell enough to get through, as she was memorialized along with the other member of Team Three who'd been at her side when the bomb at the university lab had blown. There hadn't been a dry eye in the house, particularly after hearing Donna's husband tell them all that Donna had in fact been six weeks pregnant when she'd died but they'd wanted to keep it a surprise for the right time to tell friends and family. Upon hearing that bittersweet irony, Spike's attention had been diverted from the eulogy to consoling Winnie, whose graceful ladylike weeping was now full-blown sobs. They'd stayed together that night and despite teasing each other at the wake that they should celebrating life by pleasing each other in bed that night, they'd simply stripped to the skin and held each other close.

The day after that, Sam and Jules had left for a week's honeymoon to the Bahamas which had meant that they'd been working a man short with their old pal Raf as well as Troy MacEachran from Team Two to fill in the temporary gaps. It had been so weird to be on a team without three of their key pieces, like trying to watch the Pittsburgh Penguins play without Crosby, Malkin and Fleury in a single game. Added to which because timing wasn't working out so hot for them this week, something Winnie had clearly anticipated but Spike had not, they had very little time to spend together outside the job. That was why the night before, when they'd been invited out by the team for a beer at the Goose, Spike had given them a resounding 'no' for an answer before meeting Winnie at her desk and leaving with her for a street-meat in the park date.

The blessed normalcy of their new standard of an ordinary day, however, was sidelined once more as Spike was instead focusing on the new guy coming in to help them out. He'd found out through pillow talk with Winnie the previous night that she was going to be their temp command-post tech-op, doing essentially what she did in dispatch only she would be in the field with them for a couple of shifts. He wasn't worried about working with Winnie in this capacity - Spike had learned from four years of watching Sam and Jules doing their dance around each other what not to do - it was the reactions to their behaviour from the others that had him concerned. He wasn't keeping it from them, exactly, but he did feel a tad guilty about not giving them an inside edge on the memo that Holloran would be passing them. Holloran was a good commander but because he was in charge of all seven teams of the SRU, he rarely had time to spend with them and would probably not understand the full implications of having Winnie working with them in a professional capacity.

'Spike if you're having a staring contest with the photo of your dad in your locker again, I can tell you he'll still be there when we're back from patrol today.'

Spike glanced over, saw Sam with the remainder of his honeymoon sunburn still making his very Germanic features look cherry red. 'Skipped the sunblock in the Bahamas, I see?'

'Last day we were there, let me tell you I'm glad it didn't happen any other time,' Sam replied, pulling on his uniform shirt to button it over his black t-shirt. 'Private beach-'

'Stop right there, Sam-tastic,' Ed interrupted him, securing his zipper on his pants. 'I've got zero interest in thinking about how you and your bride violated each other.'

'She's pregnant,' Spike reminded him, 'she didn't get that way because you planted a diamond in the cabbage patch.'

'Don't say 'plant' and for Christ's sakes, don't say 'patch'.'

'Why Eddie, I had no idea you were so squeamish about sex,' Same teased him.

'When the day comes that you have to tell your fifteen year old son that you accidentally got his mother pregnant, then we'll talk.'

'Touche,' Spike murmured, glad for the distraction as they assembled in the briefing room. He knew Winnie was going to be a little late because she'd had to be in Holloran's office doing the paperwork before coming in to join them. Then again, that would also allow her to have a little entrance of her own, let her been seen as her own person of the commander's choice rather than Spike letting his girlfriend play with them at work.

It didn't surprise him at all when Holloran was there waiting for them, a file on the table where Leah and Jules were already seated, chatting with Raf who was also staying on with them while Greg worked through his rehab.

'Gentlemen, good morning, please have a seat. I'm here to let you know that I've found a suitable temporary tech officer for your team. This is not a permanent solution, this is merely a temporary situation until Greg is returned to active medically-restricted duty.'

'So who are you getting to fill in for us?' Ed asked, curious how someone could be expedited to the position so fast, especially without their input.

'She is fully qualified to be in the field as a back-up negotiator and technical analyst. She has an honours BA in criminal psychology, minor in computer science with a bilingual certification in both French and Dutch, and has received the City Hall Star of Technical Service twice.'

'Wow, impressive, so how come you didn't let us screen her?'

'Because her is me.'

All heads, including Spike's turned towards the entrance of the briefing room and for a moment, his brain simply shorted out - Winnie was standing there not in her usual uniform but in the cool-pants and black top of the SRU field teams. Her hair was smoothed back neatly into a chignon at the nape of her neck, and her mouth - the one that had made Spike whimper in delight when she'd used it up and down his neck while giving him a handjob the night before - was devoid of its usual colour; she wore instead muted neutral tone that, for Spike at least, only served to highlight its contours. Then again, he doubted the others at the table were as intimately acquainted with her lips as he was.

Thankfully, the others created enough noise so that they drowned out the buzz in his head; Leah was there right away to give her friend a compliment by letting out a wolf whistle and following it up with a smile.

'Looking sexy, Constable Camden!'

'You sure that's not a tearaway costume for Michelangelo's filthy-minded pleasure?' Ed chipped in, causing both the lovebirds to go beet-root red; amazingly, Holloran just shook his head.

'As Winnie will be restricted from going into places where she is forced to make priority of life decisions, and the fact she is only a temporary member of your team, I am willing to overlook it. However, if this does become a more permanent situation, then other options will have to be discussed,' he said in his primly business like voice. 'As you've all seen what happened regarding Constables Callaghan and Braddock, I doubt you will force me into such a conversation.'

'What's the plan for today, sir?' Raf asked, bringing them all back with a little subtle dignity.

'Provided there are no hot calls, we are looking at a patrol morning with firearms practice this afternoon and monthly cleanup. Callaghan, you'll show Constable Camden the ropes. The bombings depleted our resources so we are in dire need of a restock.'

'Yes sir,' Jules agreed, knowing full well Winnie had a working brain in her head and would pick things up quickly; Holloran simply had a bad habit of talking down to anyone new.

'Ed, I trust you to make the right calls when it comes to your temp,' Holloran added before leaving them in peace. Once he'd gone, everyone turned to look at Winnie, who was pulling up a chair at the end beside Leah.

'Well, usually, this is the time when we'd set to discussing how to break in the new kid, but seeing as Ed takes every opportunity to comment on your love-life together, we'll skip that part for now,' Sam told wher with a friendly smile. 'Welcome aboard, Winnie.'

'You know how we usually do things around here,' Jules continued, 'so if you like, you and I can run through some psych-drills, let Eddie be our tackling dummy if you like?'

'Psych-drills sounds good, like talking a subject down?'

'You'll be great at it,' Spike reassured her, and he saw from the look in her eyes they were both thinking about the time after he'd had his bomb-scare nightmare how she'd comforted him and brought him back to normal. 'Jules is a good teacher, almost as good as the Boss.'

'Any word on how he's doing this week?' Leah asked. 'Having my parents here for a month has kept me out of the loop.'

'Marina called me last night, said he's been able to walk up and down the stairs of their apartment building once a day.'

'That's a good sign, that means his heart's strong, right?' Winnie inquired, hoping she didn't sound like the little kid trying to keep up with the big ones.

'More importantly, it means he's got full use of his leg where he took the fourth bullet near the femoral artery,' Ed explained, 'and that his knee hasn't been as affected as the doctors originally anticipated. So, Constable Mama-Bear, you cool handling the rookie on her psych drills? Maybe drag lover-boy along with you in case you need a dummy hostage.'

'Ed, this is gonna be a long few weeks if you keep doing that,' Raf chuckled when he saw smoke begin to curl out of Spike's ears.

'Alright, alright, last one, scout's honour.'

'So you're riding with me on patrol this morning, Winnie,' Ed informed her, 'and while we're doing the clean-up, Jules can walk you through some psych-drills.'

'Why Jules?' Sam nearly whined.

'Because she is a negotiator, Samuel, and Holloran requested her, and more importantly, seeing as she's knocked up thanks to you and your animal urges, she shouldn't be around cleaning chemicals if she can avoid them,' Ed replied with a satisfied little smile. 'So let's roll Team One.'

'Constable Lane?' Syd called out to him from the desk. 'I know Commander Holloran told you to be on patrol but we've already got Team Four out right now so I need you to hang here.'

'Alright.' Spike grinned, patted Winnie's shoulder. 'Sorry babe but my other woman needs me right now. I'm sure you understand.'

'I sure do,' she replied with a smile as Spike wandered off, crowing about Baby-Cakes getting some well-needed love. She let herself stare at his ass for two seconds, before turning to Jules and grinning. 'Here I thought the cool-pants thing was just a saying you guys used to mock your uniforms.'

'Nah, it lets the boys show off their assets,' she replied on a grin. 'Let me grab my stuff and we'll hang here while the others hit the gym.'

'Jeez, make me feel guilty,' Winnie groused lightly, knowing how she usually picked the times opposite to Team One's workouts to so they would be little risk of them seeing her in her truly hideous work-out gear. Jules, however, didn't hear her, or was letting it go as she disappeared, then returned in a few minutes with a Tupperware container and a file folder. She popped the top on the container and Winnie wanted to gag at the smell. 'Shit, Jules, what are you feeding that baby?'

'Leftover chicken and mango curry from dinner last night. I need the laxatives from the spices,' she explained in a hushed tone. 'Pregnancy means my digestion slowed down to absorb as many nutrients as possible so I feel like I'm trying to pass a telephone pole through my butt these days.'

'I can help with that. The food, Jules,' Winnie added off of Jules sudden 'what the fuck' expression. 'My dad is an excellent chef and taught me well.'

'I see.'

'I know we're coming into summer, but my stepmom Rachel, when she was pregnant with my brother over the summer loved soups so my dad made her everything - baked potato, creamy cauliflower, minestrone, paella, smoked ham and split pea, veggie rotini-'

'Okay, stop, because now I want all of those. I've already had your cream of mushroom, so...hmmm...'

'Think on it, tell me after shift, I'll drag Mike along to the grocery store.'

Jules wanted to make a joke how whether Spike should consider it practice for when he and Winnie had their own babies but she knew it would be too sooner still yet for something like that. She rubbed her hand over the ever-growing bump under her uniform pants, gave it a little pat. 'Or we can make it a girls' night with Leah. She loves to be in the kitchen too, and we can finally get some of those juicy details on your man out of you.'

'Sure, that sounds great.'

Jules grinned, then tugged her file folder towards her, scanned the list of questions they all been drilled on before by the Boss. It felt a little funny to be doing it on her own but she also knew that Winnie had a keen intellect for the psychology of the SRU's job, more than some people Jules had seen working in the field on other teams. 'Alrighty, question one. You have a subject who has taken a bank hostage, he has a documented history of violence towards women along with a police record and is threatening to shoot only the female hostages. How do you de-escalate him from a threat level red so he lowers his weapon?

They worked for nearly three hours, goin through scenarios and revisiting previously studied ones so that by ten-thirty, when the others were finishing up in the gy, Winnie was feeling rather accomplished in her task. She was standing by the windows looking out at the city while Jules wrote up her notes on their session when Sam and Spike came back in, Leah following them while she drank from an eco-bottle of water.

'So, how did it go?' Sam asked and Jules tapped her pen on the papers before her.

'Winnie is a natural, Constable Braddock. We ran through sixteen separate cases and in only two of them she wasn't able to negotiate the subject down.'

'Wow, that's impressive, Constable Camden,' Spike said with genuine admiration. 'How does one come by such skills?'

'Child of divorce, trying to appease both sides when making holiday plans, constantly dealing with one's guilt and the other's occasional overcompensation, you learn a few tricks,' Winnie shrugged. 'That and dealing with my sister, you learn how to stand up for yourself in a verbal warfare match.'

'Doesn't sound like fun,' Raf commented.

'It is what it is. All families have their things.'

'See you finished the curry,' Sam told his wife, sniffing the air before grimacing and giving Jules a kiss on the top of her head. 'You need to feed that baby of ours proper breakfast foods, one of these days.'

'Well, Winnie said she is going to help us out and stock us up on some nice healthy soups. Friday night at her place, baking party, Leah you in?'

'Sure am.' Leah grinned. 'Winnie and I can have a little wine, you can have cranberry juice while we make food and dissect men and shoes. Sounds like fun.'

Coming from another woman it may have sounded sarcastic but coming from Leah, Winnie knew how much she loved nights like that; they reminded her of her family in Haiti whom she missed desperately. 'I'll make the pizza.'

'Sounds like a plan.'

'Looks like you're getting sidelined,' Ed teased Spike as he wandered up; Spike who just shrugged.

'I've got plans that night anyways.'

'Plans?'

'Surprise planning for Winnie plans,' he whispered.

'Say no more.'

'Team One, hot call, gear up!' Syd informed them from the dispatcher's station. 'Possibly suicide threat on top of the Silver-City Cinema building at Yorkdale Shopping Centre.'

'Thanks Syd!' Ed hollered over, then looked at Winnie. 'Prep with Jules, but you ride with me. I want you with me so we can plan for you and you and Raf to go in as negotiators.'

'I thought Holloran said-'

'That I use you at my discretion. You're one of us now so you gotta know that whatever Spike and you do in your off time, on the clock your ass belongs to me.'


	14. Free Falling I

'This your first time hot call, Constable Camden?'

'With the SRU sir. I did a lot of them when I was starting out in Tech-Crimes.'

'Tech-Crimes?'

'We had to move fast in order to make sure the pirates couldn't slip the collar.' Winnie looked out the window, trying not to fidget against the bulk of her mandatory Kevlar vest. Not that she considered it inconvenient, just a reminder of how bulky she used to feel when she'd put on weight after her parents' divorce. 'I got my first major bust on a call like that, a trio of York students who were hacking their profs' faculty email and selling exams.'

'That how you got the Star of Technical Service?'

'Which one?' Winnie sent him a satisfied little smile. 'I do have two of them, you know.'

'Alright, sassy.'

'The first one I got for cracking the hacker virus on my precinct's system server. Turns out a band of pirates we sent away had friends and thought we fascist pigs were infringing on that whole dispersion of information law so they decided to take revenge on us. Fortunately, pirates are creatures of habit much like bombers and once they get their style, they like to turn it into their trademark.'

Ed swung the truck onto the freeway, headed north towards the four-oh-one. 'Where did the other one come from?'

'I'd rather not say.'

'Turn your comm off.'

Winnie flicked the button, watched Ed do the same, and he flicked those laser-blue eyes towards her; she wondered how his wife ever told him no when he sent her a look like that. 'I got the other one when we were looking into the bombings by Sarah Kominski and Rafer Wilcox. I was told in the very nice letter from the mayor that had it not been for my swift and detailed research into the subjects backgrounds our city would have faced one of its worst terrorist events in history.'

'Ah.'

'There was no mention of how Lou gave his life in the line of duty so that my man could go home that day along with everyone else that was saved on campus. I've always been the kid who wants the gold stars on her homework and to hear how awesome she is from the people she's trying to please the most but that day...' Winnie trailed off on a little sigh. 'That day I felt like Judas, it's why I told none of you I was getting an award for it. Spike knew, though, and he came anyways.'

At this, Ed arched an eyebrow. 'Spike came to see you get that award?'

'Yeah, there was a small reception and he came to say hi and...and he thanked me.' Winnie let out a little laugh. 'He thanked me, saying how he was proud of the job I'd done, trying to do everything I could to help him out. I...after Lou said he'd stepped on a landmine, I sent him some PDFs on landmine deffusion help him save Lou. That all went into my report from my end of things and someone down at City Hall thought it deserved an A-for-Effort prize.'

'You don't like that one?'

'Would you?'

Ed shook his head, his thoughts preoccupied by more than just the story Winnie had told - it was the look in her eyes, the sweetness of her voice as she talked about Spike, making him realize one very simple thing. However much he might tease Spike and Winnie about being lovebirds and crack jokes about tearaway stripper SRU uniforms, there was the beginnings of love there. The knowledge of that was t-boned by another level of realization - they had been hesitantly building up to that love for far longer than any one actually knew, even Winnie and Spike themselves.

'All I know is that if you are able to accept that not all of your work will make you feel proud in this job, but at the end of the day you did the best that you knew how to do, that's the most you can ask for. Turn your comm back on.' After she'd done so, Ed opened the line for the rest of the team. 'Guys, what do we know about our subject?'

'Not much, only that there is the possibility that it could be a young female subject named Catalina Holland, she works at Indigo Books across the pavilion from Silver-City,' Leah informed them. 'Her boss is the one who noticed she was missing after she didn't return from her lunch break, and she called nine-one-one after receiving a text from her, saying that she was up on the rooftops enjoying the view from Silver-City.'

'Is there a possibility this is just teen angst gone amok?' Raf inquired over the headset.

'Negative, she said that Catalina has things rough at home. Maybe she finally reached her breaking point.'

'Alright, here's the plan,' Ed informed them. 'When we get there, Jules, you'll take the boss, Raf and Spike you're with me on security, Sam you're heading upstairs to find out why Miss Holland feels like going sky-diving without the parachute today. Winnie, you're in the truck on techs.'

'Sir?' Jules voice came on now. 'If it's all the same to you, I think Winnie should be Sam's back-up and I can run the techs.'

'What's on your mind, Jules?'

'I've got a confirmed ID that Catalina Holland is our subject and I have her store manager on the line.'

'Patch it in, Jules.'

The teams in the three separate cars waited as the line clicked over and the woman's voice, thick with tears, came on the line. 'My name is Maggie Thomas, Lina works for me and...oh, God, I should have known when she came in today that something wasn't right, she...she was a mess, crying and trying to hide it.'

'Things not so hot at home these days?' Sam asked gently.

'No, her parents are going through a very bad divorce and Lina is caught in the middle, she's an only child who hasn't taken sides. She tries hard to please them both but it's taken a toll on her and she isn't her usual self.'

'What is she usually like?'

'Witty and smart and always trying to make others feel special. She has a hard time making friends but she'd made a lot through her online community. Lina's big into gardening and she met a lot of friends online because of it, they'd share photos and tips on hybrid care, things like that.'

'Thank you, that's very helpful Miss Thomas.'

'Please just make sure she's okay. And...and if she does get out of this okay, I want you to make sure she can go somewhere away from her parents.'

'Why's that, Miss Thomas,' Ed asked, shifting the pieces around in his mind.

'They will try to make her feel guilty about making them worry.'

'Thank you again, that's very helpful. Jules.'

'Yes sir,' Jules replied, placing the store manager on hold.

'Plan B now. Jules you're in the truck. Raf and Spike still with me. Sam, I'm giving you Winnie to be your second.'

Winnie's head whipped around and though he was two cars away, she was sure that Spike had the same wide-eyed googly-stare expression she was currently wearing. 'Officer Lane, are you sure that's a good idea?'

'Jules said you were top-notch this morning and you're also a female who went through something like what it sounds like Catalina is going through. She might respond better to you than to Sam on his own.'

'Right.'

They arrived with lights and sirens blasting away as the team came to a stop outside the main entrance to one of the city's busiest shopping centres. Winnie knew from being raised in the suburbs that this was certainly a place to make a public splash if they wanted to have a suicide make the news. She saw the crush of people underneath the sign for the Rainforest Cafe, caught sight of the movement on the corner of the cinema roof.

'There,' she said, pointing and Ed followed her finger up, nodded briskly when he saw the blonde head bob into view.

'We have a visual sighting by Constable Camden and myself, let's get with mall security and get this resolved with everyone going home safely.'

'Winnie, let's roll.'

She had to take about half-a-second before she realized Sam was speaking to her and they were heading inside with the rest of the team to meet with mall security. The head of that division was less than the stereotypical picture of a fat bottomed-out ex-cop who'd decided to get cozy behind a desk with his feet up - the man was in his thirties, silvering already at the temples but sexy in an ordinary kind of way with olive skin and bottle-green eyes and a body he clearly took pride in beneath the black vest and pressed white shirt. He was flanked by three underlings, all with the same beach-boy physique and perfectly ironed uniforms.

'Ed Lane, SRU,' Ed introduced himself.

'Patrick Delhuis,' the mall-cop replied, shaking Ed's hand. 'We have a situation here, no question and we need to get it resolved not just for the jumper's safety

'We call them subjects to keep it neutral,' Ed informed him and Patrick nodded; Ed gestured to Winnie and Sam. 'These are Constables Camden and Braddock, they will be negotiating with our subject to bring this to a peaceful resolution so you will need to give them roof access as well as shut down any other access to the roof of Silver-City.'

'Of course.'

Winnie felt her heart stutter a little as she tried to keep her poker face on, as the mall-cops led them to the easiest point of access to the roof which happened to be a small service elevator. Once inside, Sam gave Winnie a look. 'Let me do the talking to start. For one, it'll keep Holloran happy and two, she might sense you being a rookie trying to make good with her.'

'Understood.'

'If you think I'm starting to lose her, tell me and I'll say I'm going to bring in a friend of mine, and you come in to talk. I've got the ropes so we can strap you if necessary.'

'I understand,' Winnie said again, trying to keep her heart from leaping out of her mouth. This wouldn't be just a simulation, this would be the life and death of someone she didn't even know but already wanted to keep safe. 'Sam?'

'Yeah.'

'Don't patronize me, if you think I'm blowing it, tell me and I'll back off.'

Sam grinned. 'That won't happen. You know how I know that?'

'How?'

'I'll tell you after we get Miss Holland down from there.'

The elevator doors opened and they felt the wind blow past them, die down. Winnie saw the girl first, khaki pedal pushers and coral-pink top with funky silver and yellow butterflies forming a tattoo pattern down the spin. She was sitting down now, and for a moment, Winnie thought they were hearing voices of the films still being shown inside the theatre; as she and Sam drew closer, she realized it was actually a mini-DVD player she was hearing.

Catalina must have sensed their presence, or heard them outright, because before Winnie and Sam had gone ten feet from the elevator, Catalina called over her shoulder, 'I'm not interested in what you have to say so just let me finish my movie and I'll go.'

'Catalina, my name is Sam, I'm an officer with the Police Strategic Response Unit and I'm not so sure I like what you mean when you say you'll go. Where do you want to go?'

'What does it matter to you? You're just doing your job, you're paid to care all about me while I have an issue.' Catalina shrugged, scooped a handful of popcorn from the paper bag beside her. 'Once we're done here, you'll forget all about me, just like a lot of people have. And why should they remember me? I'm nothing and no-one important, no one...no one they really see.'

'No, you're wrong about that. I never forget the people I've met on the job, the people I've helped,' Sam replied evenly, and the woman let out a sharp laugh.

'That's bullshit. Go away, worry about someone worth your time.'

'Catalina you are my priority,' Sam told her, swallowed when he saw her eyes fill up, mouth widen at the corners in the grimacing smile of someone trying to fight sobs. 'I have to say, you're pretty unique, I've never seen someone come up to a movie theatre rooftop for one last handful of popcorn.'

'Winnie.'

From her position back behind Sam, out of Catalina's line of vision, Winnie heard Raf's voice over the comm-set. 'Yeah, Raf?'

'We talked more to the manager and did a little digging on Catalina's background. Her parents are going through a tough divorce, lots of fighting about money.'

'Tell me more.'

'Catalina is studying theatre production and literature at York, works summers at the mall to pay for her tuition but it looks like she is being forced to put her studies on hold because her parents have drained the university trust funds in order to pay the lawyers for the divorce proceedings.'

'Oh boy. That's a stress-trigger if I ever heard it.'

'Sam, I think you need to let Winnie go in and talk now,' Ed informed him and Sam nodded.

'Copy that. Hey Catalina? I brought a friend with me, she knows a lot about the kind of thing you're going through. You mind if she comes out here, talks with you for awhile?'

'Whatever,' the girl shrugged and Sam nodded at Winnie, who stepped over, approaching her cautiously like she would a wounded animal.

'Catalina, my name is Winnie, I'm with the police Strategic Response Unit. I heard you were having a bad day, what's going on girl?'

'Nothing much, just spending a few moments alone, as usual. Why are you guys even here?'

'Because some people are worried you might jump off that roof, do something you'd regret for the rest of your life.'

'I wouldn't regret it long, would I? Don't think you're gonna come over here and talk me down or something, it's not going to happen.'

Okay, new tactic, Winnie thought, and pointed at the DVD player. 'Mind if I join you then?'

'Be myguest.'

Catalina patted the stone ledge which served as a little bench and Winnie sat down, snagged a few kernels of popcorn from her bag like it was girls' night at home. 'What are we watching?'

'_Inlgourious Basterds_. Tarantino's a genius.'

'Agreed, though my favourite in terms of story telling was always _Reservoir Dogs_. It's pretty ballsy to make a movie about a heist gone wrong without showing the heist, right?'

'For sure.' Catalina took a sip of the drink in her hand, let out a shaky breath. 'I love the movies, they've always been there for me. They never ask for anything in return and they never hurt you or betray you. I've yet to meet a person like that in my life.'

'I think you've met more of them than you know. It was your store manager who called us, thinking you might be in trouble today.'

'Trouble?'

'Well...' Winnie gave a look around. 'You are on the roof of a movie theatre wanting to hurt yourself. I wouldn't call that an every-day thing.'

'If I hurt myself or don't it won't matter,' Catalina said quietly. 'No one really cares about what I'm going through, what my parents did to me.'

'I care,' she replied, 'because I've been there myself. My parents split up when I was about your age. How long ago did they say they were breaking things off?'

'About six weeks. Just after I finished finals. They said...they said they waited to tell me until after I was done exams so that I wouldn't be distracted. Stupid fucking hypocrites, they barely notice I'm there half the time because they were fighting so much, yet it's perfectly fine to think I'm going to just go along with it when they take all my money? They are supposed to be my family, they are supposed to love me! And if I can't count on them at the very least, who is left?'

'I am, I am here,' Winnie said again, watching Catalina's face crumble into despair.

'You're here because you're paid to shut me up.'

'No, I'm here because I want to listen to you, to help you get through this because I've heard some things about you today and I have to believe that you are not meant to end it like this. Not at all.'

'Fine, you said you know so much about what I'm going through, why don't you tell me about that?'


	15. Free Falling II

Winnie hesitated only a moment before she heard Jules in her ear encouraging her, as she also heard Ed's and Spike's, telling her that the subject was de-escalating if she was willing to listen to her. It wasn't that she was scared of sharing herself with Catalina, she was scared of what the others would say once they heard what she was going to tell this distraught young woman in an effort to make a connection to her.

'My parents got married because my mother was pregnant, and for a long time they were happy,' Winnie told her, then pointed to her movie-theatre Big-Gulp cup. 'Mind if I have a drink?'

'Go ahead.'

'Mmm, root-beer, I can't remember the last time I had that.' Winnie set down the cup, scratched her head. 'Things started getting rough when I was getting ready to go to university and my parents were discussing my future with her. My younger sister, Shannon, she always knew she wanted to be a doctor and that was crystal clear to her. Me, I wasn't as certain because I wanted to try so many things, be all different things but I always came back to law and computers. My mom thought that was more than a little stupid because she didn't think someone as gentle as me would make a good lawyer. Things got crazy when I said I didn't want to go to law school I wanted to go to the police academy, catch Internet criminals.'

'Like hackers and stuff?'

'Hackers, sure, but also tracking child pornography rings, digital stalkers, libelers, basically anyone who thought they could get away with illegal crap because they were doing it anonymously online. I'm good at that kind of thing and I wanted to learn how to think like a crook so I informed my parents I was going to study criminal psychology and comp-sci.'

'That's so cool,' Catalina sighed.

'Winnie, keep going,' Ed encouraged her through the head-set. 'You've got her interest and her sympathy, you're taking her away from her own pain.'

'That's around the time the fights began again,' Winnie said. 'There was never any physical abuse but I started wearing headphones to bed so that I wouldn't overhear my mother accusing my dad of giving me whatever I wanted and my father firing back that I wasn't some little walking-talking dress-up doll my mother could order around at her whim.'

'I know the feeling.'

'Oh yeah?'

'My mother thinks I should have gone into accounting or some stupid shit like that, and when my father tells her to leave me alone, they start at it again.'

'I know that feeling too,' Winnie replied, and Catalina rolled her eyes in a pissy little move.

'Come on, Officer, you're just shitting me now so I won't go over the edge.'

'No, it's true, you know? I remember the very first reaction I had to their news they were breaking up, and it wasn't sadness, it was relief, because that finally meant that I was going to be able to get a decent night's sleep at home for once. It meant I wouldn't have to find a hiding spot at home or spend my down time being out with friends so I wouldn't have to go home to more fighting.'

'I found a hiding spot at Starbucks.'

'Oh yeah?'

'Yeah.' Catalina sniffled, swiped the back of her hand under nose, another gesture that made Winnie feel her heartbreak all the more. 'I tell my mom I've got a few friends but most of my Friday nights are spent on my own working on my play at the coffee shop with another writer, she thinks I'm being anti-social.'

'I get that all the time too. 'You can't just be about work, you need to be out and doing things, be more social and not just waste your life away staring at a computer screen,' that's the most popular one. But the thing she forgets is that I work shift work and the stuff I hear some days, it's emotionally draining so the people I spend the most time with are the people I work with. But you know what?'

'What?'

'I like that. I like the fact that the people who I wanna spend time with I met through my job because who understands a cop better than other cops?' Winnie smiled at her. 'I spent time with them more and more, and they became my family, my brothers and my sisters. Hell, I even found a boyfriend in one of them too.'

'That doesn't surprise me. You're hot. No one looks at me like that.'

'Ed, I think this would be a good time to let Winnie talk to Catalina's friend who's here with me,' Spike informed them.

'Go for it, Spike,' Ed replied.

'His name is Rafael Langley, he is a friend of hers from her playwright's craft workshop.'

'Okay.' Winnie nodded once, looked at the girl who suddenly seemed painfully young. 'Catalina?'

'What?'

'I've got one of my team members telling me that there's a guy named Rafael here who wants to talk to you.'

Catalina's face went a little pale before going bright pink. 'What's he doing here, he is supposed to be in the Muskokas at his cottage for the summer and...no, no you're trying to trick me, aren't you?'

'No, Catalina, I wouldn't lie about something like this.'

'Then let me talk to him.'

'I can't do that, but he can talk to you through me.'

'Rafael, I need you to tell Constable Camden something she can say to Catalina that only you could know about so that she knows we're on the level,' Spike said, and Winnie heard the shuffle of headphones being put on; moments later, the young man's voice was there trying not to sound so frightened.

'Officer, please, is Catalina okay? Is she okay?'

'For now, but she could really use hearing something good, Rafael.'

'Tell her I think she should keep the scene in her play when she has Cecelia telling Jackson she loves him. It makes the rest of play have a stronger emotional impact.'

'Catalina, Rafael says he thinks Cecelia should tell Jackson she loves him or else the rest of the story isn't as strong.'

Winnie watched the girl process this information, realize that Winnie was indeed shooting straight with her; the tears began to come then, not graceful at all but full-on body-wracking sobs. So violent was her weeping that Winnie could only decipher two words - 'why' and 'care'.

'Why do you think he cares?'

'I care about her because she is my...my friend, and I don't want to lose her, please she has to know that,' Rafael all but begged. 'She...I never thought I was a good writer, a really good one, until I met her and she told me how amazing my work was. She's the first person who made me think my play might have a chance at being produced one day.'

'Oh, man, Catalina, this guy, Rafael, he's got it bad for you, girl,' Winnie told her with a note of sweetness in her voice. 'He really does.'

'How would you know? You said you were relieved after your parents split up, so how-'

'Just because I was relieved doesn't mean I wasn't sad. I went back to school and I studied hard but I also partied a little too hard, and soon figured out that the guys I was giving myself to only saw me as an easy target with daddy issues. Once I figured that out, I laid off the boys and discovered baking instead. I gained a lot of weight, then realized I'd need to shape up if I was going to be a cop who wasn't a sad cliche.'

'You're hot ,' Catalina said again; as she did, Winnie heard Rafael's voice in her ear once more.

'Tell her the green dress she wore to the Charity Ball in February had everyone looking at her, and she didn't see it because she was too damn stubborn to think she looked good.'

'We don't want her hearing negatives right now, Rafael,' Spike explained, 'they might push her to making a rash decision she can't recover from.'

'Tell her she should wear the colour green more often, because it matches her eyes which are her best feature. That and her smile, and...and her boobs too.'

'You sure you two are just friends?' Spike asked him with a hint of amusement, causing Rafael to stutter a little.

'She'd never look twice at me, believe me. Four months of writing together, I had plenty of chances and now the only way I can say something is if she is in trouble? That's fucked up.'

'Catalina, you're way wrong about that whole un-pretty thing girl. Rafael says the green dress you wore to the charity dance in February made everyone stop and stare, and that you should wear green more often because it matches your eyes,' Winnie went on, seeing the defense Catalina was hastily trying to prop up beginning to falter.

'He only sees me for my brains.'

'Not true, he says you've got a gorgeous smile too, and a killer rack.'

Like any woman, Catalina straightened up a little at that. 'Really?'

The tenuous hope in her tone strengthened Winnie's confidence, and she made the decision to lay another piece of herself bare. 'Really. I understand the instinct to deny it, I lived with a mother for nearly twenty years whose biggest compliment to me was that I looked very nice. Some days, I think I could have been wearing a Vera Wang ballgown and I bet you she'd have said it looked very nice. You know what that does to a girl's confidence?'

'Nothing.'

'Exactly. It didn't do a damn thing to help me feel good about myself, so much so that my new boyfriend, the guy I just got together with a few weeks ago, he couldn't understand what it meant that he accepts all of me, every last dimple or scar or freckle that I don't think is so great. From the sounds of things, Rafael feels the same way about you.'

'Yes, yes I do, tell her I think she is beautiful and that the story of how she got the x-shape scare on her left knee is the funniest thing I've ever heard in my life,' Rafael implored Winnie.

She relayed the message and watched once more as Catalina's defenses came down, almost quite literally as she sank down so she was sitting on the stone bench once more, elbows propped on her knees as she buried her face in her hands. Winnie saw her opening, took the moment to move closer and sat beside her.

'Catalina, I know it seems rough right now, but I don't think you want things to end this way, I think you just want to feel like you have some control in your life back.'

'I want it to stop hurting,' Catalina cried, instinctively looking for comfort and leaning against Winnie, who wrapped her arms around Catalina in a squeezing hug.

'I know, sweetie, I know you do.'

'I want someone to care! I want someone to care about me, to be the sun and moon and stars to someone who _wants_ to love me, not just because they think they _have_ to.'

'You do have that, Catalina. Rafael drove all the way from Lake Joseph to make sure you're okay. No one told him to do that, he _wanted_ to be here for you because he cares about you that much,' Winnie reminded her, and felt Catalina hug her back now.

'That son of a bitch probably knows already how much I love him but I'm just his writing buddy Cat.'

'No, she's not, she's...tell her she's my turtle,' Rafael said.

'He says your his turtle, Catalina, which I'm guessing means something special to you both?' Winnie asked.

'Rafael thinks turtles are underrated, they are all tough on the outside to protect their warm hearts.'

'That sure does sound like you, and I bet he's going to help you figure out a way to stay in school so you can keep writing together. Why don't we get out of here, go find him to talk to?'

Catalina's emotions finally got the better of her - all power of speech was gone as she wept in harsh, wracking sobs on Winnie's shoulder and to Winnie's relief, she nodded.

'Okay. Here we go.'

'My player?'

'I got it.' Sam, who'd stayed so quiet during the situation that Winnie had forgotten he was there, moved forward while Winnie walked with Catalina still wrapping her arms around her waist for support. 'Nice job, Constable Camden.'

'Thank you, Constable Braddock.'

'He's hot,' Catalina said absently as they headed into the elevator.

'He just got married to another member of our team, and they're having a baby.'

'You'd be a good mom, Constable Camden.'

'You think so?'

'Mm-hmm. You're a really good listener.'

'Well thanks, that's always nice to hear,' Winnie smiled; she forgot she was still on the comm as she said, 'I hope my bosses think so too. I probably shouldn't tell you this but you're my first ever save.'

'I don't believe that.'

'No it's true, I usually work in dispatch but I'm filling in while a team member is on sick leave. I'm glad I was able to help you, make sure I've made them proud they picked me, even though sometimes I get scared they think I'm just a dispatcher and not a real cop.'

'You're a real cop,' Catalina reassured her, feeling the crushing sadness from before beginning to ebb at the idea of being able to give such a confident woman back some reassurance the way she'd done for her. 'Anyone who thinks otherwise is crazy.'

They reached the main floor of the mall, the doors sliding open so Winnie saw Ed and Raf waiting for them. They'd lowered their M5s, and Ed was reaching out a hand to Catalina.

'Miss Holland, thank you for not scarring our rookie for life by ending things,' he told her.

'She's smart and she's a good cop,' Catalina replied, 'and I'm so sorry for making such a fuss.'

'Hey, making a fuss got us here to help you,' Raf reminded her, 'and any other time you think it's the end, there's going to be someone there to say otherwise.'

'You said that Rafael is here, right?' Catalina's red-rimmed green eyes were searching now as they walked out the mall doors to the fresh June air. 'Where is he?'

'He's in the command truck with Constable Scarlatti. We need you to get checked out by EMS, too, for shock or if you wanna go to the hospital to talk to someone about counseling.'

'Can Rafael come with me?'

'You'll have to ask the paramedics but I don't see why not,' Ed told her, the pointed to the black command truck where the door was opening. Winnie saw an olive skinned young man with eyes dark from worry rush out, neatly nipping around people until he reached Catalina and threw his arms around her.

'Thank God you're safe, Lina,' he said to her, kissing her cheeks, her brow and taking her face in his hands. 'Never scare me like that again, okay? Ever, ever, ever.'

'Ever-ever,' Catalina echoed.

'Thank you so much for bringing her back safely.' Rafael pumped Winnie's hand like a car-jack. 'I don't know what I'd do without her.'

'I told you Winnie's the best, Rafael.'

Winnie saw Spike walk up, give the stressed-out young man a wink of solidarity, one that had Catalina's radar going off.

'That's the boyfriend you talked about?'

'Sure is,' Winnie said proudly, laughing lightly when Catalina's jaw dropped.

'Wow. Are you and Rafael related?'

'No, but his family is from the same part of Italy as mine is, so maybe that's it,' Spike replied. 'You go get looked after, Catalina, and take care of yourself.'

The young couple walked off, unaware they were being watched by Team One as they did. 'Think that's just infatuation because she was so depressed,' Sam mused, 'or you think they'll stick it out?'

'I think they'll stick it out,' Raf said with no little conviction. 'The guy drove all the way from Lake Joseph to Yorkdale because he worried about her. If it was just a crush, he'd have called first. That's love.'

'I think we're all forgetting the most important part here.' Jules appeared, her hand resting lightly on her popping-up pregnant belly. 'We just witness a totally non-violent rookie negotiation. I think that's earned Winnie a few beers, right?'

The others made agreeing noises, which had Spike pointing at them all. 'Not all night, guys.'

'Why-'

'Oh please don't make the guy explain it,' Leah laughed. 'Otherwise you are all thick as bricks and twice as dumb.'


	16. Down to Earth

'Do you think she'll be okay?'

'Who?'

'Catalina. That was quite an episode she had today.'

Leah nodded quietly as she and Spike rode back together in the truck, the radio playing Q107 quietly in the background while they talked. 'She's a very grounded girl, and I think she just feels like no one was listening to her, she needed to do something to make them see how much she was being hurt by the people around her not expressing themselves.'

'She's into gardening and theatre so she's an expressive person herself.'

'So, it appears, is our Constable Camden.'

Spike wanted to correct Leah that Winnie was his Constable Camden, yet he knew what Leah was really driving at and instead focused on that. 'She certainly is.'

'You didn't seem surprised by everything she shared with Catalina.'

'Winnie is my girlfriend, why would those details she shared be a surprise to me?'

'Oh.' Leah pulled a 'well then, I see' face, looked out the window at their city so full of green; it was easy to think of Toronto as being so cold and industrial but there were so many parks it was to see it otherwise on a pre-summer day like today. 'Guess you two have already had some serious talks, huh?'

'Contrary to popular opinion, I don't just like her because she is smokin' hot, or how I can make her laugh,' Spike replied. 'I like her because she is Winnie Camden, flaws and all, just like our boy Rafael with Catalina this morning.'

'I only meant that it seems so soon to be having important details sharing chat like that.'

'Funny, we both saw it as first-few dates type of stuff because that's usually how you get to know someone, at least in our world of families.'

'I suppose that's true.' Leah considered it, thought of the last date she'd been on; a replay of that conversation over dinner had her remembering the guy asking her about her family still in Haiti. 'I guess I'm just surprised, considering how long it took you two to get together.'

Spike chuckled; he didn't like the idea of the rep he and Winnie had for being the kind of people who had danced and flirted around the edges of their feelings for so long but then again, it was the truth - he'd first had a crush on her when she'd joined the SRU and had thought about asking her out when Lou was still around, even. Somewhere between his friend's death and the fact that Brigid from Jamaica wasn't interested in him as anything more than a vacation fling, Spike had figured it out for himself that it wasn't a crush that was going to go away any time soon.

He was brought back to the present when Leah tastefully added on, 'I sure hope you don't make her wait for anything else that long, Mike. Or vice-versa.'

'Again, with the nosiness in my private life,' Spike laughed, Leah musically giggling along with him. 'What is so wrong with the fact that we've been friends for five years and we want to make this last so we're going at a pace that suits us?'

'Tell me you didn't actually say that to her.'

'Not exactly, but we both know we need the time so it's a mutual understanding of needs.'

'That's how you make a relationship work,' Leah agreed. 'Me, I'm selfish as hell so it's a good thing I'm not your girlfriend. I'd have clawed your eyes out by now.'

'Really? Three weeks, that's an unacceptable standard of delayed gratification?' Spike turned the truck into the lane of the SRU garage. 'What if we wait longer?'

'Than both of you are stronger than I.'

'I prefer to think of it as respect.'

'That too.'

He shrugged, shut off the engine. 'Leah, the bottom line is that I really, really like Winnie and the last thing I'm doing is fucking it up by rushing something we both know we're not ready for. Quite frankly, I'm getting sick of everyone judging that decision Winnie and I made together. Time to let it go.'

'Okay.' Leah heard the edge of genuine anger in Spike's voice as he'd laid it out for her, understood even someone as even-tempered and easygoing as her friend had his limits. 'So you know there's no chance of a Friday night date night this week, since it's girls night, right?'

'I know. I'm looking forward to it, we rarely get to spend time with Winnie outside the job and she's a nice girl.'

'She's a hell of a cook, too, she makes these home-fry potato cake things, they are amazing, so you will be in for a treat.'

Leah smiled, said nothing more as Spike left the truck; they would need to debrief now, and Spike knew the inevitable questions towards Winnie would come up. Even thinking about it had his instincts to protect her going off - why should they get to pry into her life and try to be in the know about things that weren't their business to begin with? Then again, those details of Winnie's life were now part of the official SRU record and could be called up in a file if necessary. Spike thought again of Doctor Toth with his little machines and blip-tests, analyzing them all like lab rats and that anger deepened. What was so wrong with wanting just a little damn privacy?

He made himself stroll into the briefing room as casually as possible, saw that Sam Jules and Raf were already back and having a laugh over something. 'Did I miss the joke?'

'Raf was telling us about his cousin and how nuts her hormones made her when she was pregnant,' Jules replied, rubbing her hand over her bump. It was still tiny enough that she'd just needed a larger size of the cool-pants for her uniform. 'She drove her husband up the wall trying to satisfy her cravings at midnight or later.'

'Thank God for all-night grocery stores,' Raf chuckled, then leaned back in his chair to catch the eyes of the incoming Leah, Winnie and Ed. 'Hey, guys. Nice job today, Winnie.'

'Thanks,' she replied in the tone Spike now recognized as the one where she used when being distantly polite. He nudged the chair beside his out, glad when she took it. 'Thanks, Mike.'

'Any time, Winnie.'

'Good work today, everyone,' Ed informed them, taking the place where Greg usually would have been at the head of the table with the incident's paperwork laid out before them. 'I think it's safe to say our rookie has no problem fitting in and handling herself, huh?'

'That was a master-craft in negotiations, no question,' Jules agreed. 'You connected, you respected and protected.'

'There's something bothering me, though. Actually, I think it's bothering all of us,' Sam put in, looking towards Raf. 'Winnie, why would you say that we don't think you're a real cop?'

'Yeah, what the hell was that about?' Raf added. 'You think we let any dumb-ass into our cool-kids club?'

'Guys, it's not about that, it's...I'm not in the field with you and I know how much you need the information I get and I worry sometimes that if things don't go smoothly when you've got a hot call, it's because I haven't done a good enough job for you on my end,' Winnie admitted. 'I want to do the job right, or else-'

'Winnie, you know there are days where you can plan and plan and plan some more, you can have all the information in the world and you still cannot anticipate the human element,' Ed reminded her, then looked at Spike. 'We all saw that with the college bombing incident.'

They all nodded silently, knowing exactly what Ed meant; finally it was Jules who spoke up. 'You remind me of Wordy right now, Winnie.'

'Wordy?'

'Yeah, after the drug-raid with Neysmith, when he told us he was sick he explained how he thought he needed to be perfect for us. None of us are perfect, we're all flawed one way or another, but that's also why we're good at this job.'

'She's right,' Leah agreed. 'If we were unscarred, there would be no well for us to draw on when a subject needs that human connection. Just like today, when Catalina needed to hear it from a successful independent woman how her home-life was shit when they were the same age and she was able to survive it and go on to thrive. What do you think would have happened if you hadn't had that empathy for her?'

'I don't even want to think about that,' Winnie replied honestly. 'It's not just that, it's also what you think of me, especially considering all the stuff you heard about me today, choices I made out of anger or sadness.'

'See above answer,' Sam teased her. 'You're not perfect, well, maybe to that guy you are-' he pointed at Spike sitting beside her '-but that's not a bad thing. We've all gone through periods in our life we're not proud of.'

'We don't judge anyone here,' Jules added. 'Well, maybe about taste in music or why you would ruin perfectly good pasta with alfredo sauce-'

'It's delicious,' Sam interjected.

'But we've all been through so much by this point in our lives that none of us judge the stuff that matters deep down. What's the point?'

Winnie shrugged, not trusting herself to speak without her voice cracking at the moment. Her shrug was enough, it seemed, as they concluded the debrief and they dispersed to the locker rooms to change into workout gear. In the ladies' room, Winnie stood in front of her locker, trying to sort through everything going on in her head. She was so tired, so drained of life force which was ridiculous because hello, she'd saved someone's life today. The full depth of that knowledge was more than a little overwhelming so she simply sank onto the bench and just stared at the space trying not to look like the sissy who was tearing up.

'Hey.' Leah came over, sat down beside her to give her a little nudge in the ribs. 'What's going on?'

'I'm...I'm not sure.'

'Quite a day, huh? You never forget your first one. It's just as scary when you save someone as when you lose someone.'

'Did you do this?' Winnie turned, pointing at her face, and Leah saw the film of tears in her eyes.

'Yeah, I did, believe it or not. Of course, you and I have different styles so I went and beat the crap out of a gym bag with my bareknuckles first, and told myself I was crying afterwards because I was exhausted and my hands hurt.'

'That sounds more like your style.'

'Everyone has their point, sweetie. You know that, you've seen everything our team has gone through. Welcome to the club.'

'Hey-hey.' Jules came into the locker room then, pursed her lips like a big sister when she saw Winnie looking dejected and Leah sitting with her. 'What's going on?'

'Broken cherry blues,' Leah replied and Jules nodded, sat on the other side of Winnie.

'I remember mine. Teenage boy, name was Shawn Dixon, he wanted to kill himself because he'd been beaten by his father after he came out. He told me his father beat him any time he showed signs of his awful sickness, that's what Shawn called it.'

'What happened to him?'

'There was another cop we worked with, Felix Oster, everyone knew he was into dudes but we never made it a joke. He helped me talk Shawn down, had me tell him that the one with the sickness was his father and the sickness was called intolerance. He helped me get through that first call and I went home that night and cried like I hadn't cried since my mom died when I was a teenager,' Jules replied.

'Really?'

'Yeah and in the middle of that, Felix called me, asked if I wanted to talk about it. Everything in me said I should just say I was fine, but my mouth was say sure, we'll meet at the Tim Hortons on King near Princess of Wales. We spent thirty dollars on Tim Hortons food that night and stayed there talking for like four hours. I still felt raw after it, but I sure as hell felt more peaceful too. I knew when I woke up I'd be able to face the next call.'

'Lucky for you, you have your own built-in understanding cop in your boyfriend.' Leah reached over, tucked a loosened strand of Winnie's hair behind her ear; the gesture was so maternal, a mirror image to what Winnie had done for Catalina that afternoon. 'He's crazy about you, you know.'

'The whole ride back in the truck, he would not shut up bragging about you,' Jules added, and it made Winnie laugh.

'Mike's the best. He is just...he's great.'

'You two have date night plans tonight?'

'Just hanging at his place. Ice cream and the Jays-Twins game on Sportsnet Central.'

'That sounds really sweet,' Leah told her, then nudged her in the ribs. 'Maybe a little extra dessert on the side?'

'It's not like that yet, it's...it's trickier than people think getting use to someone in your life as more than a friend. I'm still finding my footing with him because he's...' Winnie trailed off, got to her feet. 'Oh, I can't talk about this with you guys, this is way overstepping the boundaries of professionalism.'

'Right and getting naked with Mike Scarlatti is something all of his co-workers do,' Jules replied drily. 'Do you know how much fun this is for me?'

'Yeah, getting to have someone else to tease about their relationship-'

'No, finally having another woman around here who understands what it's like dating an SRU cop. Seriously, I've been waiting since the first time I saw Spike checking out your ass when you bent at your desk to pick up a pen off the floor. You know how long I've been waiting? Three and a half years, Winnie. That's a long-ass wait, my friend, so guess what. You are in for some serious girl-bonding time with me and Leah now.'

'Are all of you so good at giving speeches?'

Leah laughed, stood up to go to her own locker; she knew Winnie well enough to know if she was cracking jokes like that she was almost back to herself. 'It's kinda hard to switch off. We all came to the SRU because were chatty helpful people. Doesn't matter if it is our job or our friends, we're gonna pry it out of you. Of course, prying it out is more fun where there are drinks involved.'

'That's what we're doing Friday,' Jules reminded them both. 'Winnie's place, foodie-party. Let the boys go do boy stuff and we'll do what we do best.'

There was a knock on the door, followed by its familiar creak open and Spike's voice echoed lightly. 'Everyone decent?'

'Yeah, you got three minutes, then you get to see either my tits or Jules, take your pick,' Leah called over and Spike grinned so the dimple in his cheek winked like a diamond.

'The only pair I'm interested in seeing out of the three options in this room belong to Constable Camden.'

'And she does have nice ones,' Jules agreed.

'Thanks.' Winnie shook her head, took Spike over by the triple-top sink so the others had a little more privacy. 'You are in the women's locker room.'

'Yep, I wanted to make sure you are okay.'

'Getting there. I've learned from the two experts-' she tilted her head in Jules and Leah's direction '-how I'm feeling right now is normal, given the circumstances.'

'Listen, if you wanna go to your place tonight, I understand.'

'Why would I do that?'

'Oh. Ummm...ha-ha...you still wanna sleep at my house tonight?'

Winnie batted her lashes at him. 'Well, you did buy those one-litres of Chapman's fro-you just for me, right? Why let them get wasted on freezer burn?'

'Why indeed.' Spike pulled her close, dipped his head to brush his lips lightly over hers. 'More where that came from later.'

'Don't I know it?'

He left, making a show of averting his gaze from the other two women, making them both shake their heads.

'For all their tough-guy attitudes our boys truly are boys when it comes to being just normal non-cops when we're off the clock,' Jules sighed, slipping out of her pants and into a breezy summer dress that felt as gentle as a hug on her ever-changing curves. 'You also know, of course Winnie, when you and Spike do make the leap to making love, we-' she wiggled her thumb between herself and Leah '-expect to hear every last details, right?'


	17. Love Sex & Magic

When they made it to Spike's place, the first thing Winnie knew she wanted to do was shower. That she wanted to shower with Spike wasn't much of a surprise either, him wanting to join her, though, was an interesting development.

'I figured you'd want to have a few minutes to yourself, babe,' she told him, 'considering how the day's gone.'

'What I want is time alone with you and time to celebrate a good day on the job,' Spike replied, dropping his bag beside hers at the foot of his bed before flopping down on his back. He loved how it looked so comfy there, as did the few items she was finally comfortable leaving at his place. Spike loved opening his drawers in the mornings when he woke up alone to find the blue and grey Joe Carter t-shirt, the TIFF volunteer-shirt in his pyjama drawer, her bath-towel tangled with his in the hamper. He'd even noticed she'd left a pair of very hot date-night panties in his underwear drawer too - black and neon yellow satin and lace - probably just to drive him crazy for her.

'That sounds like a great idea. So...' Winnie turned away from him; she knew he was watching her, which made it all the more fun. Crossing her arms she gripped the hem of her shirt and tugged upwards, delicately reaching between her shoulder-blades to unclasp the hot lime-green satin bra she was wearing to shimmy out of it. She pushed the drawstring-string down her hips and heard Spike give a strangled sound as he saw she was wearing Brasilian-cut panties to match her bra. 'The answer is no.'

'What was the question.'

'Oh baby.' Winnie turned around now, her arms folded strategically over her breasts so she was only showing off her cleavage, leaving the rest to her boyfriend's imagination. 'The question is, did I did wear this lingerie underneath my uniform today just to make you sweat. The answer is no, I changed into this after we got back from the hot-call and I did so just so you could ask yourself that question.'

'You witchy little goddess.'

Winnie laughed, letting her arms drop to her sides, which had Spike sitting up, staring in unadulterated appreciation at her body. She was so sexy, he thought, even though he knew she wasn't always pleased with it. That

'Why do I never think to have my phone out when you look like this? Those kinds of pictures or video could go a long ways to relieving some very boring nights alone or on stakeout.'

'You can take all the video of me you like but I am not down with the pictures thing. We talked about that before,' she reminded him.

'Right.'

Spike shook his head a little in self-admonition as he remembered the incident when he'd made a joke about them having a sex tape to eventually prove to their friends they did the deed. Winnie had been in her undergrad and provided the role of a bare-breasted sexual demon for her boyfriend's film-school entry project; when she'd gone on to apply to the police academy, she'd recently broken up with the boyfriend and he was looking for a little payback, and was going to send the administrators a little gift in the form of stills edited from the film to look like she'd done porn.

Digging in to his pocket, he took out his phone, shot a quick video of her standing in his room laughing at him as she turned away to open the small linen closet in search of a fresh towel. 'That will be uploaded to my personal comp later,' he told her with a wink, and Winnie's jaw dropped.

'Pervert.'

'You'd prefer I get off to random naked Internet hotties?'

'No, I'm just saying...' Winnie came back, crawled into his lap, leaning so he was flat on his back beneath her. 'You could have waited until I do this and really given yourself something worth videoing.'

'What this?'

'This, this.'

She popped up, wiggled her hips so she was naked head to toe in front of him except for her smile and the thin gold chain on her neck. 'This would be the director's cut, wouldn't it?' Winnie teased him before sauntering out of the room to the bathroom. In the time it took her to run the water, flip on the shower lever, Spike had shed his own post-shift attire and was following her in. She'd run the water so hot that in under thirty seconds the mirror was already fogging up.

With a sharp tug he pulled back the shower curtain, he stepped in to join her, felt his blood pump as hot and hard as the water when he saw Winnie with her eyes closed, her arms raised so her hands ran over her dampened hair. The look of serenity on her face had him biting his lip in anticipation of watching those eyes fly open, then go heavy with desire because he was touching her. More, he watched her hands' gentle touch and felt his body twitch in anticipation of feeling them pleasure him, making him moan with lust for her.

Spike moved closer to her, took her face in his hands and kissed her deeply, sighing into her mouth. He'd wanted to kiss her like this since hearing her say 'subject secure' that afternoon over the comms. 'Winnie, I'm so proud of you, baby,' he murmured against her lips. 'You are so amazing.'

'Thank you.'

'You deserve to be treated like a princess. So...' Still kissing her, Spike reached past her shoulder for the bottle of shower gel on the shower-shelf. He squeezed the freshly scented soap into his hands, rubbed them together. 'Turn around.'

Winnie complied, then let out a low, pleasured moan when she felt his tough-skinned hands gently massaging the lather into her own tired muscles. 'Ohhh, good god, Mike, I think I just came a little.'

'Well, in a bit...' Spike leaned in, moving his hands around to her front to run them up over her stomach to cup her breasts. 'Maybe I'll make you come a lot.'

'Mmm, sounds great to me.'

Glad she hadn't laughed at how cheesy his cool-in-his-own-mind line really sounded, Spike kept one hand between her soap-slicked breasts, moved the other one down her body to her stomach, her hips, the top of her thigh. She had gorgeous skin, soft and supply and tender to the touch. He felt the quiver of her muscles, the little jelly there that he knew she was self-conscious of that he never gave a damn about. She trembled because of him, was all Spike could think, she was completely that the mercy of her senses because his hands were touching her.

Winnie let her head roll back, thumping against Spike's shoulder. She felt his hands move over her body, his caresses not meant to be sexual at all which only made her arousal grow. His touch was magic, she mused, as her muscles unknotted themselves. It was one thing to be turned on by a kiss, certainly but the way he stroked his fingers over her now, this was more than just lust, this was...this was more.

'Mike,' she sighed, 'Mike...a lot sounds good right now.'

'A lot?'

'Oh yeah, babe. I want a lot.'

'Whatever you want, Winona. Turn around.'

Winnie did so, found her lips captured by his only this time the kiss was not frenzied and lustful but languidly lazy, the slowness of it meant to draw out the pleasure. Then he was kissing his way down her neck between her breasts where he paused to flick his tongue once over each of her pebble-hard nipples. His hands were on her hips as he knelt in front of her.

'Hold onto the bar there, babe,' he instructed her. 'You'll want to hold on tight.'

Spike heard her slightly bewildered 'uh-huh', knew if the last few weeks were any indication, this next move would drive her wild. He started low on her calf, kissing his way north - he felt her shake with a little laughter when he found the sweet spot on the inside of her knee - until he was grazing the hollow of her thigh with the tip of his tongue.

'God!' Winnie let out a sharp cry as she felt him taste her, her back arching in response; she was suddenly glad he'd told her to hang on to the shower bar. She shuddered deeply as he gripped her hips while his mouth worked wondered on her honeypot. He explored her like an exotic island, his tongue finding every secret place between her thighs which made her whimper and shiver in delight. Her hips began to grind a little rhythm as her chest tightened from the lack of air getting into her lungs. 'Michelan-'

It was a far as she got before she felt Spike slip two fingers between her thighs and in an instant he parted her heated lips and thrust his tongue inside her. In a flash, his name left her brain and it was replaced by an oath, wicked and bright as the light that seemed to flood every cell of her body. 'Fuck! Oh, God...oh...oh God, Michelangelo, yes!'

'More?' was the only thing he could come up with as a reply.

'Uh-huh,' Winnie replied in a whimpering moan. Her hand brushed over his hair, pressing lightly to keep him in place against her body.

Spike groaned as he felt Winnie's body go tenser and tenser still, her hips movign faster and faster until he heard her sob out his name once, and she shuddered violently as the last syllable of his name was elongated on her cry of pleasure from the avalanche of the orgasm he'd given her. When her trembling subsided, he pressed his face to her hip before rising up to kiss her. That she did so, enthusiastically without so much as making him rinse his lips beforehand, made Spike's own arousal grow even more.

'That was more than a lot,' she murmured as she laid her temple against his stronger shoulder. 'That was...something else I don't have any words for. Except maybe a few.'

'Oh?'

'Mmm-hmm.'

'What might those be?'

'Your turn for a lot,' she replied; before Spike could so much as blink, Winnie had closed her hands around his on the shower bar and streaked her mouth down over his body to take him into her mouth.

'Fuck,' Spike managed through gritted teeth. He'd always loved when his partners went down on him, but once more - none of them had been Winnie. He was finally living one of his favourite recurring dreams, her naked in his sower while she pleasured him with her mouth. Eyes closed, he threaded his fingers through her hair as she dipped and swirled her tongue on him, sucking gently one moment, tormenting him the next. 'Winnie, I...I...don't stop, baby, you're so good.'

Winnie gave a little moaning 'mm-hm' that nearly had Spike loosing his mind. He felt his breath begin to wheeze in and out, hiccuping out of his lungs as he fought for some tiny little bit of control. When he felt the shift in his core, all he could do was say her name over and over again as his head thumped lightly against the tiled wall of the shower.

'Michelangelo.'

He heard her say his name once and he looked down to see her eyes, dark with lust, burning into his. 'Winnie-'

'Say it.'

'Say it?'

'Say it,' she repeated before taking him into her mouth once more.

'I'm coming, Winona, I'm...God!'

This time Spike felt it hit him like a freight train, an avalanche of an orgasm that had his whole body going rigid as he emptied himself into her. She kept going until he was drained completely, never spilling a drop; the fact she didn't made it all the more hot when she rose up, kissing her way up his stomach, over his chest, his neck, until she reached his mouth. Only then did she hesitate.

'Wanna me to rinse first, babe?'

'No.' Spike shook his head feverishly and crushed his mouth to hers. Exquisitely exhausted, he dipped his mouth so he was kissing the curve of her neck where it met her shoulder. 'God, that was amazing Winona, and just proves your point.'

'Point?'

'If that's what our foreplay is like, what will it be when we actually have sex?'

'The Armageddon. Or would that be Arma-get-it-on?'

'Funny girl.' Spike stroked his hands over her back, held her close under the hot spray of water and felt her hold him back. They stayed together like that for some time, just marveling in the presence of the other, so vulnerable and unguarded. Finally, it was Winnie who spoke first.

'Spike, you want me to wash your hair?'

'No, I don't think you're tall enough to reach.' When she reached a limp hand up to absently pat his head, he laughed lightly again. 'Alright. But then I get to wash yours.'

'Sounds good to me. Shampoo?'

'Right here.'

Winnie took the bottle he offered, made a happy noise when she lifted the lid to sniff the fragrance. 'Ooo, yummy. And yet, that weird guido-cologne you insist on wearing still overpowers it.'

'You knock that shit all you want, when I wear something different you tell me I don't smell like me.'

'Really?'

Spike nodded as he ducked his had only slightly so Winnie could sweetly lather in the suds to his short hair. 'Yeah. Case in point, when we went to Donna's memorial, you told me that on the way home in the taxi.'

'If I did, I don't remember, and I'm sorry about that, but there's a lot about that day I blocked out.'

'Me too, but that I remembered very well.'

'Why do you wear that stuff anyways?'

'Like I said back at Christmas, that's a story for another day.' Spike closed his eyes, tipped his head back to rinse. 'The truth is, there's a story there that is better saved for a time when we've been together longer than three weeks.'

'Okay.'

He opened his eye, and when he looked into her face, soft warm and relaxed from their intimacy, he gave a gentle laugh. 'God you are so beautiful. You are the most beautiful creature I've seen in my life. Nothing compares to your face in this moment, right now.'

To both their utter shock Winnie's lip trembled once, eyes filling up. 'Michelangelo, you undo me,' she said softly. 'I- How do you come up with those words? I'm...I feel the same way when I look at you, it's like I've been hit on the head and everything goes blurry but for you, what I feel when I look at you.'

'Winona.' Spike took her face in his hands, drew her in for a tender kiss. 'Those words do just great.'

'I- how is it possible to feel so strongly about someone when you've been together less than a month?'

'Because we're us,' he replied easily, making Winnie laugh.

'I suppose that's true. We've always been our own brand even when we were just friends, weren't we?'

'Put it this way. If I wasn't with the team, they knew they'd find me with you. The same holds true now, only when they find me with you, there's a chance they might...interrupt.'

'Mike.' Winnie bite her lip, sent him a saucy look. 'Trust me, when we reach that next level, you couldn't be interrupted by a nuclear explosion going off in my room.'

'You think so?'

Rather than reply, Winnie merely laid her lips at the bottom of his throat, massage the skin gently; within five seconds, Spike let out a groan of deeply satisfying frustration.

'I know so,' she murmured, and Spike gave her a smile as he nipped the shampoo bottle off the shelf once more.

'My turn to wash your hair.'

* * *

When they were done, and dressed in their summer comfies, Winnie stood in Spike's kitchen as she watched him blitz tomatoes, onions, carrots into a paste in his blender before transferring it to a saucepan. 'So, this is going to turn into sauce?'

'Oh yes, my mother's recipe for puttanesca is a no-fail recipe.'

'And what are we putting it on?'

'What else? Go look in the fridge, we need peppers, onions, cheese still.'

Curiosity piqued, Winnie went over; her heart did a gooey flutter in her chest when she saw what he'd bought - a package of prepared pizza dough. He was making her pizza, with his mother's recipe for red sauce. 'Damn, you do know your audience, Constable.'

Spike watched her wash up, quite literally roll up her sleeves as she dusted the counter with flour, divided the dough and began to knead it into a perfectly round circle. Just hours before she'd talked a suicidal girl down from ending her life, then trembled naked in his arms when he'd given her a mind-shattering orgasm, and now she was his kitchen helper-monkey.

Was it any wonder he was in love with her?


	18. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

A few days later, Winnie felt her stomach churning as she looked around her apartment, made sure everything was just perfectly so for her guests arriving. It was a habit she'd inherited from her mother and had never been able to shake. Rachel, her step-mom, could care less if people saw that she actually used her kitchen or required magazines in her bathroom for both male and female readers. Gabriella Valken, formerly Gabriella Camden, on the other hand believed guests to her home were Terminators sent back from the future where those who had untidily stacked magazines and unwaxed floors would be stoned and shamed in public.

Of course, Winnie knew she wouldn't be so damn nervous if it weren't for one very unexpected and unwelcome wrinkle to her Friday night plan to spend some quality time bonding with Leah and Jules - Jules had texted her that afternoon just after Winnie had hopped the street-car home with news that she'd invited Sophie to come along and make it a quartet. Being the gracious, well-mannered, nice-girls-never-say-no lady she'd been trained to be by her mother and sister, Winnie had replied that Sophie would of _course_ be a happy addition to their little soiree.

Upon arriving home. Winnie had kicked off her sandals, looked at all the beautiful ingredients in her fridge to make the yummy mama-friendly dishes for preggo Jules. She thought of Sophie joining them, professional caterer Sophie who could probably MacGyver a delicious meal out of canned fish, dill pickles and Triscuits, and promptly bolted for her bathroom where her nerves got the better of her as she threw up everything she could possibly void from her stomach. Weak, woozy, Winnie seriously considered calling them all up and cancelling just so she wouldn't have to feel like such a jerk around them. Okay, maybe not a jerk, per se, she thought as she flushed the toilet and rinsed her mouth at the sink. But she knew her place right now - she was Spike's girlfriend, a dispatcher at the SRU. She knew that Leah and Jules had been friends with Sophie for far longer; once she showed up, Winnie would just be there looking like the little girl who got a gold star for trying bestest-hardest-ever, teacher, really she did. That feeling was one she couldn't stand, not after years of living with it from her mother. Her friends at work had become her second family, people who genuinely made her feel appreciated because she worked hard and didn't patronize or placate her efforts.

To have that threatened was as real to her as if she'd been told face to face she wasn't good enough to be in the SRU.

Winnie saw her hands shake as she went to her freezer, found her safety-stash of tequila. She twisted the cap off, down the syrupy booze in a quick little pull - why did tequila go syrupy when it was below zero? - and immediately wondered if that hadn't been a seriously bad move as her stomach roiled from stress. She clenched her fingers into little fists, schooled herself to behave.

'Stop it,' she said aloud. 'You are acting like an idiot, you are their friend too. Yahhh!'

The sound of the buzzing intercom had her jumping out of her skin; Winnie replaced the tequila in the freezer, clearing her throat as she went to answer. 'Yes?'

'_Ce sont Les Trois Mousquetaires_,' Leah replied in Haitian French, making Winnie smile.

'_Venez ici, mes belles dames_.'

'That means we go in,' Winnie head Leah tell Jules and Sophie who were asking what she and Leah were talking about. It made her feel both better and worse at the same time. She gave her space one more look before unlocking her apartment door and turning on the Jays game, arranging herself in the corner of her couch so it would look like she was just chillin' like a villain while waiting for her friends to get to her house.

The knock on her door echoed in her ears like gunfire, or maybe it was just the echo of her heartbeat in her own head. Somehow she managed to call out in a clear voice, 'It's open!' before training her eyes back on the screen. Oh, and it was a good one too - Jay versus The Evil Empire; Schneiermaan was pitching a hell of a game from the quick glance of the stats.

Winnie heard the voices draw closer and closer, until her door was being gently pushed open and three of the most formidable women Winnie had the privilege of knowing were in her home. She made herself do a slow turn away from the screen, which she figured they would let go since they all knew what a baseball nut she was. Flipping the television set to mute, she set aside the safety-object of the pillow on her lap and got to her feet to greet them all. Winnie only prayed that she didn't seem subtly hostile towards Sophie. The woman was more than a little intimidating; there was a reason Ed called her his Greek goddess - she was model-sexy, yet warm and maternal in the way she spoke, with just enough steeliness underneath to keep a man like Ed Lane in line.

'Thank you for letting me tag along at the last minute,' Sophie was saying as Winnie managed to get the buzzing out of her ears. She held up a couple of cloth grocery bags with a friendly smile. 'I hope you don't mind I brought along a few things to make you a little thank-you something for being so nice to an old married mama.'

'Of course.'

'Oh, sweetie, no.' Jules saw the light in Winnie's eyes, shook her head firmly. 'Don't go there.'

'Go where?'

'We made it clear to Sophie that this is your thing for Jules,' Leah murmured to her softly as Sophie began to putz around Winnie's tiny kitchen.

'What, why?'

'Because of this.' Jules waved her fingers in and up-and-down pattern in front of Winnie. 'We know you Winnie, we know how you're trying to figure it out where you fit in with us because of your relationship with Spike and how you're our temp field officer.'

'That obvious?'

'No,' Leah smiled, patted Winnie's shoulder. 'We're just trained experts in human behaviour and we know how our friend thinks.'

'Eddie wouldn't stop talking about the case you guys had together this week, Winnie,' Sophie continued, either oblivious or polite enough not to eavesdrop on the conversation. 'He said he'd never seen a rookie so cool on her first call and he wants to figure out a way to make you a permanent part of his team.'

'Eddie is a soft touch around me, he's sucking up after what happened when everyone figured out Mike and I had gotten together,' Winnie replied, cautiously moving towards the kitchen while Jules headed for the bathroom and Leah watched the baseball game on-screen as she unlaced the complicated strings of her sandals.

'Ah, yes, the personal-assistant gone wrong, he mentioned that,' Sophie laughed. 'Do you have a punch bowl?'

'I have a salad bowl, will that do?'

'Sure. Yeah, I think Eddie learned his lesson on that one,' she continued, retrieving the bowl at Winnie's direction. 'Has he given you and Spike much more grief?'

'Every day, Soph,' Leah called over, 'or close to it.'

'Well, just remember he does it from a place of love. You can always tell when he's jerking you around for real. Now, I've got the ingredients for punch ready here, do you want me to help you do any prep for what you and Jules are making or can Leah and I start on the surprise for you being such a nice hostess?'

'Ummm...surprise, I guess?' Winnie's head was still spinning a little from adjusting her brain to the idea that Sophie wasn't going to come in and take over, and tell her everything she was doing wrong as an amateur home chef. 'You can use the kitchen table, I cleaned it off so-'

'Winnie, it's not surgery.' Jules, having caught the tail end of the conversation as she came back from the bathroom, rolled up her sleeves and went to Winnie's oven, turned it to the preheat setting. 'We listening to music or the ballgame?'

'Music after the ballgame,' Leah replied. 'They are in the bottom of the eighth right now, and the Jays are up by one against the Ya-'

'Don't say it!' Winnie forgot her anxiety long enough to shush her friend. 'That is a dirty word in this house! You might as well use a racial slur as say _that_ word!'

'What word?' Sophie looked up from where she was pouring fruit juice and club soda into the salad bowl.

'The Y-word, the Evil Empire of Major League Baseball, is as good as an F-bomb 'round these parts,' Leah told Sophie. 'When our girl here doesn't cheer for the Jays, she's a Red-Sox fan.'

'Damn straight, baby,' Winnie said with such certainty that both Jules and Sophie cracked up.

'Man, you have to come over during hockey season.'

'Then it's the Penguins,' Jules giggled, which surprised Winnie; she didn't think her choice of teams was noticed and remembered like that by her fellow SRU cops. 'That's enough about sports, though, that's why we left the boys behind for the night. When do we eat?'

'Soon. I've already got our pizzas ready to go, so we just pop those in the oven. While we wait, we work on soup.' Feeling more in her element, Winnie scooted around Sophie as she headed for the fridge, began to pull out vegetables. 'What do we want to start with first, Jules?'

'Whatever is fastest so that i can taste some.' She rubbed her bumpy little tummy. 'Baby's got the munchies.'

'That would be either broccoli or mushroom.'

'If I get a vote, broccoli,' Leah piped up as she poured a glass of Sophie's severely bright-coloured punch. 'Green things always look appetizing. Unless it's green eggs and ham.'

'Have you ever tried that, Leah?' Winnie asked, taking out broccoli, asparagus, brussel sprouts; at the gagging noises she heard behind her, she glanced over and cocked an eyebrow when she saw Jules making a grossed-out zombie face. 'What?'

'You're not making me eat those, are you?'

'They are being poached in chicken stock and then pureed into a soup. Why, do you have allergies?'

'Yeah, against things that taste like feet, which includes my hubby's perpetually failing attempts to make an alfredo sauce that doesn't taste like rotten gym socks to me.'

'Trust me, once we add the cream-soup base to this and the cheese and the spices, you'll forget you're eating all that ruffage. Your colon and your baby won't but you will.'

'I wanna learn how to do it.' Happy to leave Leah and Sophie to do whatever it was they were doing, Jules scooted closer to Winnie's work-space. 'Take me through your cooking show, Chef Constable Camden.'

'What, like, 'Kid-Cooking with Constable Camden?'

'That sounds slightly cannibalistic,' Sophie chuckled, 'though given the way my kids have thrown tantrums, I understand the sentiment.'

'Your mama should-a ate you when your bones were soft,' Winnie rasped, making the others howl with laughter.

'Where did you hear that?' Leah wheezed out.

'Oh, my dad says it all the time to Aaron when he's being a right little ponce.'

'Aaron is...' Sophie trailed off.

'My stepbrother from my dad's second marriage,' Winnie explained as she diced broccoli and asparagus stems. 'He and my mom split up when I was eighteen, Dad met Rachel a year later they were married and fourteen months after the wedding, along came Aaron. My mom of course thought they got married because of pregnancy, just like they had but the math clearly says otherwise.'

'We didn't get married because I was pregnant,' Jules suddenly blurted out.

'Hey, girl, none of us judge you if you did,' Leah reminded her. 'What matters is you and Sam being happy together and raising a healthy baby.'

'He'd already proposed to me, about two weeks before we found out about the little hitchhiker. The day after we knew, the ring he'd picked out came in and we decided to move the wedding up so we'd be married before he or she comes along. What is that?'

'Chicken stock, for cooking the veggies. The veggies will get pureed down with the stock, so that will give us some saltiness without adding extra salt.'

'That's good. Apparently high blood pressure in pregnancy is common in my family.'

'Does it feel weird to be pregnant and not being able to go to your mom?' Leah asked, and Jules nodded a little, gave a little sniff. The sound instantly had both Sophie and Winnie coming over to give her a hug. 'Hello hormones. Bet those are a bitch, huh?.'

'I don't think about it a lot. I remember what I've got here and now, which is all of you, yeah you're in there too Winnie, so stop looking at me like that.'

'Like what?'

'Like Charlie Bucket waiting to go into the Wonka factory. We love you because you rock so deal with it, girl.'

'Hard to argue with that,' Leah chuckled, putting an arm each around Winnie and Jule's shoulders.

'Hey look over here.'

The trio of women looked up, smiled out of reflex when they saw Sophie taking a picture on her camera-phone. 'Ooo, pretty. Winnie, did you ever model?'

'A little in my last year of high school, why?'

'You could make a fortune marketing Crest toothpaste. What's your number, I'll send it to you.'

Winnie told it to her, grinned when she received the photo on her phone; the smile on her face made Jules grin wider. 'Now you can have that as your wallpaper as a reminder that you are indeed one of the cool-pants cool kids.'

'Nah, she's never gonna change her wallpaper,' Leah teased; she neatly nipped her friend's phone out of her hand, held it out for the others' inspection. When they made oo-ing noises, Leah beamed in triumph at Winnie. 'See? You are one of us.'

'Well this one of us says let's keep going with the soup!' Jules felt her stomach roll with hunger. 'What can we nosh during the waiting time?'

'We'll get you fixed up, and oops, Winnie looks like Mike is calling.' Sophie's eyes were dancing as she wiggled the woman's phone at her. 'Put him on speaker.'

'No,' Winnie laughed. 'I'm not stooping to Ed's level of antics, that's splitting the house.'

'Oh, let me.' Leah snatched the phone, pressed the green 'answer' icon. 'Hey Spike-elangelo! What's shaking?'

'First Ed, now you. Seriously, you guys need a life,' Spike replied. 'Seeing as I called my girlfriend's phone, can I talk to her?'

'Sure, sweetie. Winnie, it's for you.'

Winnie pretended to glower, paced away to her bedroom for a little privacy. 'Hey baby, how's your night going?'

'Good, Wordy is pretending to clean me out at the poker table so they can tag team Eddie as revenge for the whole personal-assistant gag on us a few weeks ago. How are you handling the women?'

'They are wonderful,' she replied honestly. 'Really, I...I need to have more faith in myself, my abilities.'

'Hey I get it, it's been a rollercoaster the last few days being in the field.'

'It has,' she agreed. 'Maybe...you feel like coming over afterward, we can steady each other out?'

'What did you have in mind?'

'I'm thinking...Black Forest cupcakes...'

'Yeah?'

'...and macadamia white chocolate cookies...and homemade raspberry sorbet...'

Spike let out a low moan. 'Keep going, Winnie, don't stop.'

'And salted caramel cheesecake brownies.'

'I think I just had a food-gasm. Yep, food-gasm achieved, and you know there's only one way to thank the chef for that.'

'Oh?'

'I'll tell you later,' Spike replied, reveling in her own light groan of frustration. 'It'll be worth it, babe, trust me.'

'I'm holding you to that.'

'I'll text you when I'm on my way over, okay?'

'Sure.'

Winnie said good-bye to him, hung up her phone before murmuring so only she could hear, 'Love you Mike' then joined her girlfriends back in the kitchen where they appropriately made her blush over the possibility of a booty call arranged for later. 'Yeah, yeah, I know,' she laughed. 'Who's hungry?'

* * *

Spike was whistling lightly to himself as he used the key Winnie had given him to unlock her apartment. Usually the trading of keys waited until later in the relationship, but as he and Winnie had established for themselves, they were already ahead of the usual period of gaining trust.

'Winnie?' he called out, heard her reply from the bedroom. Following her voice, Spike stopped dead in the doorway when he saw her lying in bed, the sheets artfully draped to hide her naughty bits he was so fond of while she licked chocolate from her thumb. 'Wow.'

'Hungry?'

'You bet I am.'


	19. Angel

_Hey everyone! Glad to see the interest this particular story is causing! Also thought it might be wise to do a timeline here - in my brain, Jules and Same got married on June 12 and Winnie and Spike count their first date as the following day, so we are now at July 13th in this particular universe. Enjoy! _

* * *

'Good work today everyone, things could have gone seriously south. Let's be glad they didn't.'

Spike nodded his head in agreement as Team One came in from the garage, lifting an eyebrow when he saw Winnie wince and dart for the dispatcher's desk, where she frantically searched for something in one of her drawers. Usually she waited to get the official word from Ed before heading off but then again, she'd been extra-snappy with everyone that day so he paid it no mind. He saw Ed zip over to her, talk to her to make sure she was alright; Spike didn't feel offended as he knew he'd get the more in-depth answer on the ride to her place once they were back in their civilian clothing.

'So what are we thinking, hanging together for some Goose-bonding or home to loved ones?' Leah asked, drumming her fingertips on her hips.

'I think it's a home to loved ones night, Constables Kearnes,' Sam replied, giving Jules a loving squeeze on the shoulders. 'We have to be up for church and brunch tomorrow.'

'Church and brunch?'

'My dad's in town on business and mom is insisting on us going with him for the usual Sunday routine,' he explained.

'And Winnie and I have plans to go to the movies,' Spike added, drawing little 'oohs' from his friends. 'Really? Still doing that after a month?'

'Scarlatti!'

Spike looked over to see Ed standing at the dispatcher desk, pointing at the briefing room. 'A word, Constable, before you leave.'

'Oh-oh, you're getting sent to the principal's office,' Raf snickered, relishing the scene on his last day with Team one before heading back to his home on Team Four.

'Shut it, Raf.'

Spike approached Ed and the briefing room like he was the executioner on the gallows. He and Winnie hadn't been inappropriate at all with each other on the comms once. Friendly but nothing to warrant a dressing down; hell Sam actually kissed Jules' cheek when they were on their way back from the scene. He took a seat, swiveled the chair all the while giving Ed a crystal-clear what-the-fuck looks. The moment they were alone, Ed said to his bewildered friend, 'Spike I have an undercover assignment for you.'

'Okay?' Curious, Spike dragged his chair closer.

'Let's call it Operation Chocolate.'

'Operation Chocolate.'

'Yeah.' Ed remembered the copious amount of chocolate ice cream Sophie ate when feeling as crummy as Winnie did, figured they should be getting Christmas cards from the CEO of Chapman's. He pulled out his note-pad, began to make a little list. 'When you take Winnie home tonight, you need to go north on Blue Jay Way, and watch for traffic, King's busy this time of day. Go into the Shopper's Drug Mart there and get her two bottles of Maxidol, a multi-pack of Tampax, a box of Always overnights. Then head into the foods section and find her some tea, ginger-ale, scotch mints and cranberry juice, and the biggest block of chocolate ice cream you can afford.'

'What the fuck-'

'Michelangelo, welcome to being a boyfriend again. Your woman is about two seconds away from either crying or throwing up on her desk and if you're a good man, which I know you are, then you will have no problems following this direct order, right?'

'Yeah, I would get all of that stuff for her anyways if she asked me,' Spike said, as though this were obvious.

'But you're barely a month into dating and Winnie is not about to tell you when she is...y'know...and make you feel weird.'

'She always told me before, she'd always joke she had PMS and a load gun so don't piss her off.'

'That was when she was 'my pal I flirt with' Winnie. Now she's your girlfriend Winnie,' Ed pointed out to him. 'Just remember what we talked about before, your masculinity does not diminish in her eyes when you do nice things like this for her.'

'Alright.'

Spike got up from his seat at the table, walked up behind Winnie to rub her shoulders. 'So, Ed mentioned you're not feeling so hot anymore?'

'It's called being a girl with a healthy, functioning uterus.'

'Yeah, Winnie, I already knew that.' Spike winked at her. 'You stole my Tic-Tacs from the truck this morning and popped four of them before you got through the front doors. The last time you asked me for Tic-Tacs like that, you said it was for-'

'The nausea so I didn't destroy my work station with vomit,' Winnie finished, remembering how embarrassed she'd felt at letting her male colleague know she was on her period. 'Guess if I'm feeling like I wanna throw up that puts cramp in our plans for tonight, huh?'

'As popcorn is only fun going down, I'd say a small one,' he agreed, giving her a light hug. 'So home we go to your house, where you can get some rest to feel right as rain again and I will be the doting boyfriend who proves how secure he is in his masculinity by getting you your...girl things.'

'Oh, Mike, you don't-'

'Have to worry about a thing, I have a list, I have your back.'

'The one that feels like someone whaled the tar out of my kidneys with a baseball bat?'

'Yes that one.'

'Okay, just let me grab my stuff from the locker room.'

Twenty minutes later, Winnie was unlocking the door to her apartment, and untucking her uniform shirt - she hadn't bothered changing since she was pretty sure she had flooded her nice bright pink panties and didn't want to look like a dirty pre-teen unaware of how to use a pad. She was early this month, which was more than a little annoying, otherwise she would have been better prepared.

'I'm getting changed and using the bathroom,' she informed Spike, who said nothing, just went to her kitchen, turned on her kettle to boil water. 'That's not an invitation.'

'No, I get that loud and clear.' Spike opened the cupboards, found a cup and the loose-leaf tea she favoured when she was under the weather. He shook his head when he heard the sounds of her vomiting, wincing at the dry heaving gagging. 'Winnie, you alive in there?'

'Yeah I think so.' She spat viciously into the toilet, sighed as she scrubbed her palms over her face, then looked up at him. 'You sure you want to be here for this? Holding my hair back and-'

'Winnie, this is where I need to be right now. Actually, I have somewhere I need to go for you, so...wait...hmm...' Spike opened the cabinet under the sink, saw the box of maxipads was nearly full, but there were only three tampons left. Tampax with a green label, he noted, and none of those overnight thingies Ed had mentioned. 'Yep, I gotta run out to the store so how about we get you tucked into bed in some comfy clothes while I run this little errand for you?'

'Okay.' Too tired and fussy to bother asking what he was up to, Winnie got to her feet, flushing the toilet. She walked with his hand in hers to her bed; she almost burst into tears when she watched him turn back the covers, arrange the pillows so that when she laid down they were supporting her back. She all but melted from her feet to the bed, eyes sinking shut so she barely registered Spike tucking up the light cover, stroking her hair while he pressed a kiss to her brow.

'I'll be back soon, baby,' he whispered to her, and was treated to a little buzzing 'mmm' in return. Spike wasn't even out of the room before she was asleep.

* * *

When Winnie awoke, the first thing that hit her senses was the scent of instant chicken noodle soup. For a moment she wondered if she'd been magically transported to her father's house and he was in the kitchen, but as she was lying on her own bedsheets she knew that was out of the question. Sitting up, she felt the nausea turn her stomach lightly but more importantly the pain low in her belly was still there. It made her groan in frustration; the next thing she registered was the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway. Her eyes popped wide when Spike opened her bedroom door a fraction, then widened it when he saw her sitting up.

'There's my sexy mama, how you feeling?'

'About as sexy as Carrie on prom night after she got pig blood dumped on her head.'

'Well, Sissy Spacek was wearing a pretty hot dress and she let the bitches have it in true girl power style,' Spike pointed out, coming over to the bed; Winnie nearly cried when he put the back of his hand to her forehead, her cheek, the space between her shoulder-blades. 'You feel a little warm but not feverish. How's the rest of you feel?'

'Like John Hurt in Alien, I just want it out of me.'

'Understandable. Hungry?'

'Maybe.'

Spike flashed a grin. 'Good, because I don't wanna eat alone. You need the bathroom first?'

At her nod, he took her hand and led her to the bathroom, walking down the short hallway to her kitchen, Winnie staring after him as he went. She looked in her medicine cabinet under the sink and had to grin - he'd stocked her feminine supplies for her. There was a mixed box of Tampax, a back-up box of her preferred brand of pads, and even some specifically for overnight use according to their label. On the sink was an extra bottle of Maxidol, so that she now had two of them, presumably so she could keep one in her purse and one in her cabinet at home.

'Mike Scarlatti, you are something else,' she murmured.

Out in the kitchen, Spike stirred the instant soup he'd prepared for her; he'd seen that in her cupboard before leaving for the drug-store so he picked up an extra box for her. He thought of adding in some toast, perhaps a little cheese for protein but thought again - the last time he'd had the flu, he'd made the mistake of having cream of potato bacon soup and that hadn't been pretty when he'd been heaving his guts out. So he stuck with soup and toast; while the kettle boiled he went to her movie shelves to discover two things he hadn't noticed before. One - his girlfriend was indeed a movie buff of epic proportions judging from her vast collection, and two - Winnie Camden had a very odd filing system. Each section of the shelf was neatly labeled with varying quantities of films; he noted the war, science fiction and animated films were quite filled while the rom-com section was nearly empty and being overtaken by the overflow from the comic-book hero section. There was also a section labeled 'lonely nights' and another labeled 'me-time' both of which held a rather random mix of titles, which piqued Spike's curiosity.

'Thank you for the tampons.'

Spike turned away from the shelves, saw Winnie looking slightly less miserable than she had when they'd come home. Her hands kept drifting over her belly and lightly rubbing it, much the same way preggo Jules did. 'You are welcome. Feeling better?'

'A little.' Winnie shrugged. 'If I had taken my Maxidol like a good girl before I left work today, I wouldn't feel so shitty. I've taken it now, so soup has to wait another-' she checked the clock on her stove '-twenty minutes according to the instructions.'

'You know, I'm seriously tempted to get you a microwave for your birthday.'

'What do I need a glorified butter melter for?'

As he didn't have any interest in picking a petty fight over something so stupid, Spike wandered back to her DVD shelf. 'Quite the organizational system. What exactly are the me-time ones for?'

'Call me crazy but when it's my...you know that time of the month-'

'Winnie, I'd never have pegged you for being so squeamish about the human body,' Spike teased her sweetly, the dimple in his cheek winking away.

'I was raised with the mentality that guys aren't supposed to know about that stuff.'

'Bullshit,' he replied so bluntly that Winnie blinked in shock. 'We've seen each other naked, given each other orgasms, that's all part of biology too. Why is this any different?'

'Because...it's not sexy?' When Spike pinned her with a look that very clearly said 'seriously?', she relented. 'Fine then. When I'm on my period, I like to watch horror movies. The worse I feel, the bloodier the movie which in turn makes me feel better.'

'And the lonely nights?'

Now Winnie smiled, walked over to wrap her arms around his waist and lay her head on his shoulder. 'Those are for the nights when I'm feeling anxious for some loving and have to take care of it myself.'

'Hot.'

'Of course, now that you're in my life in a whole new way...' She trailed off, kissed his cheek. 'We can use them for foreplay, or I can watch one to keep me company when you're on nights.'

'You're killing me here,' Spike laughed, kissing her back. 'You wanna eat at the table or over here and watch one of your bloody gruesome movies?'

'Mmm...table, yes, table is a good idea.'

'Good, then I can rub your belly for you when you're full.'

'I'm not a dog,' Winnie snapped, then sighed, sniffled lightly. 'I'm sorry, Mike, it's-'

'The hormones, Winnie. I know,' Spike laughed lightly. 'I'm not unfamiliar with the concept of a menstrual cycle.'

'But...oh, Jesus, I don't know how to explain it, Mike,' she went on. 'I...I was raised that good girls, nice girls, don't talk about things like PMS, body hair, gastrointestinal problems or anything that might make us - me - seem...unpretty.'

'That is the biggest load of horseshit I've ever heard in my life. Do you know how often I've heard my cousins joke about getting bad clams and how that gave them problems? They crack each other up about it, see who can embarrass each other the most.'

'That is a family I would love to meet,' Winnie said with such wistfulness that Spike cocked his head to the side.

'Winnie?'

'I'm okay, Mike, really. Just haven't been in a relationship in awhile and as Pain and Panic have forever tried to instill in me it's not something to talk about with your boyfriend.'

Spike had to laugh. 'Pain and Panic?'

'My sister and mother. They are two peas in a pod, and I'm my father's child. If it weren't for him, some days I'd think I was an alien pet who wandered into my mother's house by mistake and she decided to raise me like an earthling.'

'Oh Winnie.' He tried not to laugh, as he could sense there was a lot of family drama buried in her humour but her phrasing made it rather a chore. He wrapped his arms around body, held her close. 'If you were from another planet, I'd guess Venus.'

'Kiss-ass.'

'Yep, even though it's the truth, because my job as your boyfriend is to make sure my girlfriend doesn't cry so I'm making her laugh instead.' Spike gave her a kiss, tender, sweet, reassuring. 'Winnie, I seriously cannot wait to meet...what did you call them?'

'Pain and Panic.'

'Right, Pain and Panic, because I think I will have a great time field-training on them.'

'What are you going to do, bring in Babycakes to dazzle them?'

'Nah, I need to brush up on my profiling skills. Those two could give Toth wet shrinky dreams I bet.'

The laugh escaped Winnie like a burst of light, until she was doubling over from her own hysterical giggles. 'Mike, that's the best thing I've heard all damn day.' She delicately pressed her hand to her mouth, looked over to the stove. 'And I think the soup is ready.'

'Alright. You sit down here.'

Spike pulled out her chair for her, patted the cushion, and Winnie saw what she'd missed the first time - he'd put one of her Yankee tall-boy candles on the kitchen table, put her Japanese peace lily beside it, in lieu of buying her flowers. That he was considerate enough to think of that had her going as mushy as her belly felt. He brought her over a modest sized bowl of soup and despite the hunger pains in her stomach, it churned like a storming sea. Clapping a hand to her mouth, she bolted from the room, doubled herself over the toilet as she heaved her guts out.

'I'm so sorry, Mike,' she said aloud, flushing the toilet it and rinsing her mouth with water straight from the tap. She drew up to her full height, let out a little squeak when she registered his presence by the door of the bathroom. 'Please don't take that as a critique of your cooking skills.'


	20. For You I Will

_Hello dear readers! So this chapter is a definite departure from my usual intimate scenes but I think (I hope) you understand the reason why I wanted to include it, especially when you read the conversation that comes after the key scene of the chapter. Thanks for you continued interest - and reviews!_

* * *

Once she'd stopped throwing up, Winnie realized she was indeed hungry; she suddenly had greater appreciation for Jules and what she must be going through with morning sickness. More, the cuddle on the couch with Spike helped too - they'd watched Francis Ford Coppola's version of _Dracula_ and gross as it made Winnie feel, the sight of poor Lucy Westenra being completely decimated in a fountain of red made her feel much much better.

Worse, however, were the scenes with Lucy running through the hedge maze to go have sex with Dracula in his wolf-beast form. She understood all too well right now the need for that kind of bodily release, of just needing everything to come crashing down until she felt better. Or at least, more like herself; right now Winnie felt like a blubbery squid and knew what she really needed wouldn't be on the menu tonight. Not that she wanted to have sex with Spike the first time out of something as pedestrian as tension relief, but a nice mind-emptying orgasm, something her sexy man was more than capable of giving her, would just have to wait.

When the film was done, she unwrapped her arms from around Spike, gave a tired, weighty sigh. 'That was good.'

'Yeah? It really helped?'

'Yep, that plus the nice little cuddle from you.'

'How you feeling?' Spike asked her, getting to his feet; he waited to see if she would be getting to hers as well or if she needed a moment.

'Fussy and fidgety and ready to sleep,' Winnie replied, mostly honest. 'I- remember how I said how Pain and Panic told me that nice girls don't talk about their cycles with their boyfriends, it's just some mysterious, foreign thing?'

'Yeah.'

'I used to think other girls were somehow stronger than me. It look me almost three years to figure out that other girls felt the same way I did.'

'Ouch.' Spike hoped his one-word answers didn't come off as callous, but really- he had no personal frame of reference for it so how was he supposed to know what to say aside from reassuring Winnie she could trust him to listen without judgement. More and more he was learning that however confident she appeared, just like Jules and Leah and every other woman in existence Winnie had her own issues born out of her femininity.

'I guess what I mean is...I'm sorry I'm not more feminine like the Winnie you see at work.'

'Hey. The Winnie I see at work is right here,' he reassured her, 'just like you know the Michelangelo you see at work is the same guy you soothed with kinds words and a squeezing hug after he had a nightmare about his best friend's death. A death, I'll add, that took place nearly four years ago.'

'I...I'd like some tea. I know how raging hot it is outside, given that it is July in the city but it'll help my belly.'

'You got it.' Spike gave her a kiss, brushed a loose strand of hair off her face. 'Go get ready for bed, I'll bring this in for you.'

Winnie complied, loathing herself for not being able to fully open up to him. Tea would be great but she desperately needed that orgasm she'd been fantasizing about and she had no way of getting it. Stretching out on her back on the bed, she stared at the ceiling, moaning softly as she tried not to focus on the ripples of discomfort in her lower belly. God, she felt completely turned outside and upside down - her innards were leading a revolt against her, but she didn't have the energy to gas and get it out that way, her boobs felt huge and so tender that when she took off her bra just to be wearing one less article of clothing, she felt a shudder pass through her as she accidentally brushed her nipples. She wanted her man and how the hell he still wanted her back after this was entirely baffling to her.

Rolling to her side, she closed her sides, curling into a protective position with her back to the door; Winnie didn't even hear Spike come into her room until she smelled the sweetly-scented berry-red rooibos tea he'd brewed for and heard the cup clink against the base of her bedside table lamp. Glancing over her shoulder she look at him, the angles of his face, the depth of his eyes, and wanted to cry. She wanted him so badly and there was zero possibility of him doing anything about it because of her stupid fucking period.

Spike could tell she was torn up about something, desperately wanting to share it with him as she fought it off. Why she wouldn't just tell him what was bothering her, well, bothered him. They were very open about things they weren't necessarily proud of, so aside from the stupidly uptight counseling of her mother and sister Spike was at a loss as to what would make her shake with held-in tears.

Stripped down to his boxers, Spike crawled in beside her; she was wearing only a kitten-soft pair of black yoga pedal-pusher pants. He put his hand on her back, and murmured softly, 'Winnie are you in that much pain?'

'No,' was her gentle, watery reply. 'It's...I don't know how to say it.'

'Try, for me.'

Winnie shifted so she was laying on her back, Spike cuddled up with her. 'I...I read a little while ago that when a woman has a bad period like I usually get and hide with drugs, one of the best ways about going to release some extra endorphins to take the edge off the discomfort is an orgasm.'

'An orgasm,' Spike repeated. 'How...how do you accomplish that?'

'Usually I touch myself while still wearing my panties so I don't turn into a circus freak.'

'Winnie.' Spike fought for control not to laugh; that would send things right over the edge right now. 'You're not a circus freak.'

'Look, it's embarrassing enough to tell your boyfriend you get yourself off-'

'You already did.'

Winnie squinted at him. 'I did?'

'Yep, when explaining your system of filing for your DVD collection. The me-time ones?'

'Right.' She shook her heard, cleared her throat. 'Okay, so you think it's hot like that, but this is just...it's gross and wrong, and...it feels so good on my tummy.'

Spike thumped his forehead lightly against her temple. She sounded so unhappy and frustrated that he realized what Ed had told him earlier at the station was bang-on accurate - being a good boyfriend meant putting his woman at ease when she felt this turned around. He pursed his lips, looked around. 'Winnie, do you have any condoms?'

'We are not having sex like this, Spike,' Winnie told him sternly, 'but as it happens, yes. I keep them in the bottom drawer of my bedside table.'

Spike twisted away to open the drawer; when he saw it's contents, he felt his throat go tight. Winnie was just full of surprises he thought as he saw the small box of condoms tucked in beside a sex-toy. He pulled one out of the box, then tugged on her hand. 'Come with me, I have an idea.'

Winnie wanted to ask him what the fuck he was doing but when the next wave hit her, she groaned in grudging agreement. She let herself be tugged down the hallway towards her bathroom where Spike ran the water boiling hot on her shower, flipped the lever. He turned to her, winked.

'Strip. All of it off, and I'll step out if you wearing a ta-'

'Okay, I got it. I'm not wearing one so...' Winnie waited while he turned around to undress and take care of herself, then stepped into the shower. 'You joining me?'

'In a second.'

Spike shed his boxers, ripped open the foil of the condom. Rather than wrapping it around himself, he slipped it over his index and middle fingers, twisting the latex so he was certain no water could get inside. There was a small part of his brain that tried to scream _what the fucking FUCK are you DOING!_ but it was drowned out by Ed's words about his masculinity not being diminished. He was already blocking out the mental threat of voices threatening to creep in and mock him as he tugged the shower curtain back gently, saw Winnie leaning against the shower bar.

'Here, turned around so you're...yeah, like that,' he murmured when her bottom brushed against his groin; he could feel the tension in her body, heard her softly-keening whimpers. 'Winona, you trust me?'

'Of course I do, why-'

Winnie's cut herself off mid-question when she felt Spike's fingers brush down between her thighs and he slipped two inside her. The sound she made in lieu of words was a strangled cry, a mix of surprise and pleasure. 'Mike, what...why?'

'Winnie,' he replied in a low, rusty voice, 'you told me you need an orgasm to feel better, and that's what you'll get.'

'Mike-'

'I want you to come for me, sweetheart.'

The words were so simple yet so erotic that Winnie had little choice but to close her eyes as sensation began to overtake her while Spike stroked her, slow at first then faster and faster until Winnie felt herself thrusting her aching hips up at his hand. Everything inside her was clenching, so tight and tense until she felt it - the glorious heat releasing through her body, starting in the pit of her stomach and spread through her veins like fresh lava bursting from a volcano. The flood between her thighs was a passing thought; all that she knew was that for the first time all day, she felt like herself again and she stood a chance of getting a decent night's sleep.

Spike heard her whimpering, knew it wasn't just from carnal delight but relief; for a fleeting moment Spike had a vision of Winnie lying in a hospital bed, nine months pregnant with their baby and making the same noises of relief as a contraction ebbed away. Inexplicably, the very image of Winnie, soft and round as she carried his baby - their baby - made him hardened; it would have to wait, he decided, he would find one of Winnie's 'me-time' videos and take care of it himself while his beautiful girl rested and got herself back to fighting form. When he felt her slump against him, Spike withdrew his fingers from her vault, stripped off the used condom and stuck his hand around the shower curtain to drop it in the garbage bin by the toilet.

'Does that feel better, sweetheart?'

She was so overcome by what he'd done that Winnie could only nod, tears gently coursing down her face, as she turned around and kissed him hard, her tongue finding his. 'Thank you, Mike,' she sighed, running her lips over his throat, 'thank you, thank you, thank you. I just...'

'You just what?' Spike prompted her.

'I just wish that you needed me the way I need you.'

It was an arrow into his heart, her words hitting him as real as any bomb he'd ever disarmed in his career. 'Winona Michelle Camden, to think of my life without you is impossible. Do you know the only thing that kept me going when I lost Lou, my dad, after my ma went to Italy, was seeing you smile at me every day?'

'Mike.'

'I'd wake up, before work, feeling this horrible sense of futility and think, what the hell is the point of trying to get attached to anyone when it feels like all they do is leave? Then I'd get to the station and see you and suddenly my world wasn't - isn't so dark anymore.'

'Now I wish I had said yes,' Winnie murmured to him, as Spike tipped his head back to soak his hair.

'In a twisted way I'm glad you didn't say yes right away because it reminded me that even though those loved ones were gone or had traveled overseas, you were still there and despite how embarrassed we both were in that moment, you were still here, still smiling and still making me feel not so alone.'

'Mike.' Winnie wrapped her arms around his middle, held him tight. 'Mike, I promise I will never, ever let you feel alone.'

'Same goes, Winnie. But speaking of Italy...' Spike trailed off, feeling his belly squirm the same way it had when she'd told him 'no' the first time he'd try to ask her out on a date. No time like the present, he thought, and took the plunge. 'My ma wants me to visit in December, for us to do Christmas since she knows I usually have to work New Years. I want you to come with me.'

'To Italy?'

'Yeah, I want you to come with me, meet my crazy cousins and aunts and uncles, drink wine, pick fruit in the orchards, make pasta with us, go to the markets in Naples. We can drive up to Rome for a weekend, do the tourist thing-'

'Eat true Italian pizza.'

Winnie said it with such dreamy desire that Spike had to laugh. 'You will be a true aficionado of pie after a week in Italy. The idea of meeting my family doesn't freak you out?'

'Considering that you will be meeting the two halves of my family on Thanksgiving weekend, I'd say you'll be telling me I owe you big time for making you spend an overnight at my mother's house.'

'You make it sound like Shawshank Prison.'

'Andy Dufresne would have been tunneling out with a dessert spoon before coffee was served after dinner.'

'Hang on. When did I get invited to Thanksgiving?'

Winnie tried not to give him a guilty smile. 'I had dinner with my family last weekend, when you were on nights. Once I mentioned you and Rachel realized we'd started dating, the only thing she and Dad could talk about was getting to meet you on Thanksgiving.'

'Why Thanksgiving?'

'So we'll have the time to spend a whole weekend together instead of just a dinner when you may or may not be on your best behaviour.'

'Ah. Well, that's why my family wants you to visit, so I suppose that's fair. Want me to give you a massage?'

'No, I...I just need some time in here by myself, to clean up.'

'You got it.'

Spike gave her one more kiss, then eased out of the shower. Alone, or at least on her own, Winnie clapped a hand to her mouth to stifle the sobbing brought on by her overwhelmed heart.

* * *

The following morning, after a night spent with Winnie cuddled up in his arms, Spike kissed her brow as he slipped out of bed while trying not to wake her. Apparently she was more aurally sensitive at the moment too, because the soft creak of the bed as he stood up had her rolling over, her eyes opening with obvious, concentrated effort.

'Time-zit?'

'Early. You have to day off and I gotta go in for pre-shift.'

' 'Kay.'

'Don't forget your Maxidol, sweetheart,' Spike reminded her. 'Take it when you don't feel nauseous and then when I'm off tonight we can go see that Hitchcock double-feature, if you're up for it.'

She mumbled back some nonsense about catching thieves in rear windows, which had Spike laughing as she conked out again, and all the way to the station.

He gave Syd at the desk a jaunty salute as he headed into the locker room; it was empty which wasn't' surprising - Spike didn't expect to see Ed for at least another hour since Sophie now let him split his workouts between home and the station. Raf was officially back to Team Four so he was on another schedule entirely from Team One, which left himself and Sam-tastic.

Just as well, as he wanted a little quiet so he could think on what he and Winnie had done together in the shower the night before. It was unusual, even weird probably to most if they heard it, but the thing was, Spike found himself feeling rather blasé about it. Winnie had needed him and he'd stepped up. How would it be any different than the rather disgusting things Ed had done for pregnant Sophie that he'd bitched about to the guys in the locker room? To him, there was no difference, hence no shame. Instead it had brought about more layer of intimacy, of trust for them both.

'Morning, lover-boy.'

Spike glanced up, grinned at Sam who looked about as relaxed as Spike felt. 'Morning big daddy.'

'Ready to kill some gym equipment?'

'Oh yeah.'

'Good, because I have to tell you about the weird preggo shit that Jules has been up to lately. I know it's probably over-sharing but Jesus Christ, who else deserves to get a little payback after what the team's put you through over Winnie.'

Spike thought once more of his interlude with Winnie in her shower and grinned. 'Trust me, it takes a lot to faze me about women. What's she doing now?'


	21. Hot Fun in the Summertime I

'Refresh me again. Why exactly are we going to celebrate Canada Day this weekend instead of, oh I don't know, a month ago when it was our national holiday?'

'Because we all had to work and Sophie said that there was going to be a surprise for us when we got to the cottage this weekend.'

'What kind of surprise? Help me.'

Spike looked over his shoulder from his truck, saw the huge suitcase Winnie was hauling out. It was a beautiful Friday afternoon in the height of summer and if he had to wait any longer, they were going to hit traffic on their way out of the city to the Lanes' cottage just outside Haliburton on the edge of the Kawarthas.

'Don't tell me you're one of those cliched women who packs their whole wardrobe for the weekend at the cottage. We're going to be on the beach, and going fishing and being sporty.'

'Nope.' Winnie shook her head. 'It's not heavy at all, just awkward.'

Spike gave it a testing lift, discovered Winnie was right. Her suitcase was indeed awkward but not overstuffed. 'Sorry, babe. I'm used to women who pack a suitcase this size for an afternoon at the beach.'

'More cousins?'

'And very prissy ex-girlfriends. I had one who refused to let me see her without makeup.'

'Bet she didn't get shower sex too much.'

'Nope.' Spike shook his head. 'She would always insist on looking model-perfect, and never ate in front of me, never gassed, burped or even sneezed in front of me if she could help it.'

'So why did you stay with her?'

'Because I was twenty-one years old and she liked how I looked in my uniform. That was one of those unfortunate situations where she only card about the badge, not the man.'

'Poor baby, beating off all those hotties with a stick.'

'Yes, poor me who looked like the biggest stud in the room and was the guy who always ended up alone at night because those bitches wanted to fuck me then leave me and I couldn't do that all the time, I knew it just wasn't me.'

'Gotcha.'

'I was thinking too.' Spike turned from Beverly Street onto College, heading northwest towards Eglington Avenue. 'After we get back from our weekend at the cottage, I want to take you out.'

'We go out all the time.'

'No, not just a regular date, I mean like a night out on the town.'

'Oh, that sounds nice.' The idea he wanted to take her out somewhere fancy made Winnie wiggle a little in delight. 'Where to?'

'A surprise,' he replied, 'One I know you will love.'

'Tickets to another Blue Jays game?'

'Something we haven't done yet.'

The instinct to say 'sex' was hot on Winnie's tongue but she ignore it in favour of pursing her lips and wigglign her eyebrows at him; there was a very good chance of them getting to that this weekend. 'Then I'm just going to stop guessing and let you surprise me.'

'Wait, what?' Spike braked for the red light at Bathurst, shot her a confused look. 'You're just not going to guess.'

'Nope. I'm horrible at guessing presents, so I get back at the person trying to torment me by refusing to guess and letting them steam.'

'You wanna make me steam...' He reached over, grabbed her hand to kiss the delicate skin he found there. 'Why don't you wear a tiny little bikini in front of everyone when I can't touch you?'

'Oh I thought of that too. I have three to choose from, one in bright blue that would be good for around Clark and Dean and Izzy, one stripy number that is for making the guys jealous and one in bright yellow that will make you turn into a cartoon character.'

'Please tell me it's Roger Rabbit, his wife was smoking hot.'

Winnie laughed at that one. 'Why is it all men go giggly over Jessica Rabbit?'

'Because we're weak and easy. Jessica Rabbit is all the hot parts of a woman exaggerated in the best possible way.'

'So why don't guys go after something like that in their real life?'

'Because we know we're completely incapable of scoring a woman as over the top as that, so we set our sights on what I call an R-L-G,' Spike explained, hoping he didn't sound like a total jackass.

'R-L-G?'

'Real Live Goddess, someone you meet who just makes everything feel...right.'

'You are such a romantic, Constable Scarlatti,' Winnie teased him. 'How many of these kinds of Miss Rights have you met?'

'Just one, and she is currently torturing me by making me fantasize about her bikinis on our way out of town for the weekend.'

Lust for her man ran hot and liquid into her belly as Winnie's smile widened. Satisfied she'd done her job for now, she reached over and turned on the radio, then tugged an FM transmitter out of her purse, pulled out her iPod. She knew she was going to earn some squawking from him over the subject of music - amazingly they had nearly completely opposite taste when it came to tunes - but that was just part of his charm, she'd decided.

Spike eased onto the four-oh-one west, gave her a look as he heard the sounds of some Euro-trash techno music blast through the speakers of his truck. 'Really, Constable Camden? You want me to toss your very fine ass out of a moving vehicle in weekend lunchtime rush-hour?'

'Hee-hee-hee.'

'Seriously, turn it off or I may rethink this whole surprise thing.'

'Fine, fine you big baby,' Winnie chuckled, then flipped it to what she'd programmed that would be a happy middle ground for them both - her very inclusive and extensive Beatles playlist. 'There, Your Majesty, is that to your liking?'

'Much and...' Spike caught the smug amusement on his girlfriend's face, squinted. 'You did that on purpose, didn't you?'

'Haven't a foggy clue what you mean.'

'You always do that, purposely turn on that boom-boom-boom shit some brain-dead idiots call music then turn it to something we both agree on.'

'First off, that boom-boom-boom shit was actually Daft Punk, and they are awesome. But more importantly...' Winnie leaned over and pecked his cheek lightly. 'It's fun to watch you squirm from time to time.'

'It's fun to watch me squirm?'

'Spike, everyone knows whether they say it aloud or not that you have the coolest head on the team, you have to being the B&E guy. Getting to see you all flustered and cranky is a nice break from routine. Not to mention seeing you hot...and...bothered.'

'Hot and bothered is easy as breathing around you.'

'Well, then...'

Knowing they easily had a two-hour drive to the cottage, Winnie lifted a hand to delicately pop the buttons of her sleeveless top. She made it to four before tugging open the fabric. 'This should make you very hot and bothered.'

'What the fuck are you doing?' Spike yelped - from the angle, it was very obvious that Winnie was wearing no bra and very close to being labeled indecent.

'Making sure we get to the cottage on time so you can see the rest of what's underneath here.'

* * *

'Wow.'

Winnie stepped out of the truck as Spike shut off the engine, looked around at the Lane family cottage. It was a split level bungalow with white trim against chocolate brown wooden siding, nestled on the top of the hill above the placid water of Kidney-Bean Lake in the Kawarthas. The lake, clearly named for its resemblance to the vegetable, stretched out to the north-east of them, making for a perfect spot to see the rest of the action at the other cottages and the campground at the lake's most northern edge.

'This is beautiful!'

'It's Sophie's family place, she and Clark and Izzy have been hanging here for a week and Ed's staying up for his summer vacay after we go back on Monday morning. He'll be back on Thursday.'

Spike glanced at the other vehicles around them - the blue Civic, the black Elantra, the green Rav-4, but did not recognize the snazzy silver Ford Fusion. Curiosity piqued, he helped Winnie haul their luggage out, heard the voices drifting from around the corner of the house on the deck. A few moments later, Ed appeared with a beer bottle in hand in his cottage casual of khaki shorts and a Toronto FC jersey.

'Hey, you made it! Just take your luggage inside, we can move it to your room later. Come see the surprise. Want a drink?'

Winnie and Spike both replied yes, following Ed around the side of the house where they both let out a happy cry.

'Boss! Hey, look at you!'

From his spot at the end of the oval-shaped group of chairs occupied by the rest of Team One, Greg grinned at them from his spot in the brightly-painted Muskoka chair that faced the water. He was still a little pale and definitely shiny from recent exertion, but he was here, Spike thought, nearly whole and moving back towards healthy. In the chair beside him sat lovely Marina, cool and friendly as a pitcher of freshly squeezed lemonade on a scorching summer day; she had her hand laced through his and a smile on her face.

'We just finished some grocery shopping in town and Mister Universe here insisted on pushing the cart the entire time,' she said with equal amounts of pride and teasing in her voice. 'His physiotherapist will be so proud.'

'Yep, today, pushing the grocery cart, tomorrow barefoot water-skiing.'

'Funny man.' Marina leaned over, pecked Greg's cheek that had his still-plump face going pale pink. 'Can we tell them now? The last ones finally got here.'

'Sure.'

'Tell us what?' Sam asked, putting his hand on Jules' shoulder.

'Greg and I are moving in together.'

'Hey that's fantastic!' Spike dropped Winnie's hand to go over and give Marina a hug, then Greg. 'When did that get decided?'

Greg waited until the rest of the gang had shared their hugs before answering. 'Two days ago, we figured it just made more sense for Marina to be at my place - well, our place now, since it's closer to her office and I don't want to uproot Dean before he goes to university. That'll be hard enough on him.'

'He's a well adjusted kid,' Leah said, then added, 'whose father was shot while on the job three months before he's scheduled to leave him for pursuing his own career.'

'Exactly. I'm not causing any more waves for him.'

'Where is he, anyways?' Winnie asked. 'Did he hang in the city with Mira?'

'No, he's here, him and Clarke took Issy down to the shore to build sandcastles. Not much sand but she's a determined little thing, just like her mother,' Ed replied, glanced out over the balcony to the water's edge where the two teenage boys were having a grand time playing in the spit of sand with the cherubic toddler in her summer play-clothes and hat. He leaned over the balcony, hollered at him, 'Hey, under-agers! Spike and Winnie just got here!'

'Sweet!' Dean hollered back. 'Did Dad tell them about my new mommy living with us?'

'Sure did, smart-ass!' Greg leaned over as well, grinning at his son.

'Oye, we have a toddler here! No bad words!'

'Misser 'Reg, no ba' words!' Little Issy chimed in, pointing a chubby little finger towards her daddy's best buddy. 'I lit-tle!'

'We promised the boys as soon as you guys got here, they'd officially be off kid duty,' Sam explained, 'so we can go skiing and fire up that grill for lunch. Guys! Go wet-suit up!'

'Sweet!' Clarke echoed, then tickled his little sister so she howled with giggles. 'Hear that Issy? It's time to go swimming and go in Daddy's boat!'

'Zoom zoom zoom! Boat go zoom!'

'That's right it will go zoom!' Dean infused his voice with the bright cheer he knew his bro's sister loved.

Winnie saw the trio coming up from the water's edge, each of the boys holding the little girl's hands so she wouldn't lose her balance on the hilly terrain back to the cottage. For a moment she wondered what it'd be like to see her own little girl - one with Spike's eyes and dimples and her own curly black hair - tottering up as she held onto a big-person's hand. The thought vanished when Leah sidled up beside her with a cold bottle of Alexander Keith's, tapped her own against it.

'How was the drive up?'

'Breezy.'

'Breezy?' Leah arched an eyebrow as she listened to Winnie's tale of the unbuttoned blouse and grinned. 'Hoping for a little bit more than just a goodnight kiss this weekend?'

'Yes,' Winnie replied immediately, then tried not to blush at her own eagerness; a quick glance over her shoulder told her the others were occupied with debating who would be where during the first round of skiing.

'Winnie, the fact you two haven't taken that step yet is more than a little admirable.'

'Admirable?'

'Yes, at the strength of your will power,' Leah teased her, grinning at her friend's flustered expression. 'We all understand why, though, if that helps.'

'A little but...I don't wonder if he wants me, I know he does. And it's not like we don't have fun together like that, it's just that-'

'Sex always complicates things, even when things are great in a relationship.'

'Exactly. Sometimes they complicate things more because...' Winnie trailed, left her thought unfinished as she watched Spike tug off his t-shirt, and she felt that liquid rush spread from the pit of her belly through her body as she admired his spectacular body. Jesus he was hot.

Leah followed her friend's gaze, couldn't blame her for going a little gooey-brained. Michelangelo Scarlatti was a fine looking man, but more, it was the tender, giving, plain old-fashioned _good_ heart underneath the chiseled pecs and toned torso that made Winnie go gooey-brained. 'Don't worry, Win,' she reassured her slack-jawed friend. 'You'll get to jump his bones soon enough.'

'You girls coming?' Spike called over to them, pride blooming bright in the centre of his chest when he'd caught Winnie staring at him. He never wanted her to stop staring at him like that, not when he felt like a superhero because of it. 'Or are you more of the decorative beach ornaments?'

'No, I'll be there as soon as I change into my swimsuit.'

Spike grinned, remembering the litany of beachwear his girlfriend had rhymed off to him as he kissed her. 'Leah, you coming too?'

'For a little while. I promised Sophie I'd put together the ingredients for some paella with her while Issy has her nap.'

'No!' Issy, being almost two, heard the word from Leah's lips and immediately went into foot-stomping mode. 'No nap! No nap! I big! Wanna go zoom!'

'It's not nap-time yet,' Ed reminded her, in his gentle but firm way. 'But what happens when Mommy says it's time to sleep?'

'Lissen Mommy?'

'Exactly.'

'Hi-fi!'

Issy held up her little palm, which Ed slapped playfully, then turned her big blue eyes to Winnie. 'Hi Miss Winnie! You pidy!'

'Thanks, Issy,' Winnie laughed.

'Moosh Misser 'Pike?'

'What's a moosh?' Spike wondered, and Ed rolled his eyes.

'Someone-' he shot Clarke a dirty look '-taught Issy the word 'smooch' only she says 'moosh' instead.'

'Misser 'Pike moosh Miss Winnie,' Issy insisted, and Spike complied, giving Winnie a quick smacking kiss.

'Happy now, Issy?'

'Whee! Yea moosh!' Satisfied, she dropped Clarke's hand and took one of each of Spike and Winnie's 'Mon! 'Larke say boat time!'

'I have to go put my swimsuit on first,' Winnie told her and Issy huffed out an impatient little sigh.

'O-kay, Miss Winnie! No be long?'

'I won't be long,' she promised, blowing a raspberry on the little girl's cheek which had her forgetting her troubles.

'Mon Misser 'Pike!'

'What a flirt,' Spike chuckled as Issy clung tight to his hand and Winnie straightened up. 'Hey, hey not so fast. One more moosh for the road.'

He tugged Winnie in for a lingering kiss, whispering discreetly in her ear, 'More where that came from later, mama.'

Spike watched her walk off, turned back when he heard Ed's coughing laugh. 'What?'

'Nothing, just...do it already, would you? It's getting a tad annoying watching you dancing around it.'

'Ed, we were friends for five years, I'm not about to push things physically until we're ready for it. I thought that was settled.'

'Right. No, sure, I mean you gotta do what you gotta do.'

'Thank you.'

Ed shook his head as he watched Spike take Issy inside to get changed into her toddler-sized swimsuit and wondered if this was how long it took for them to even have sex, it would be New Year's before any L-bombs got dropped.


	22. Night and Day

'Daddy! Fasser!'

'In a moment, Issy, we have to make sure Spike is ready.'

'Go-go-go Daddy!'

Winnie shook her head as she sat on the floor of the speed boat with Issy in her pint-sized life-jacket and toddler swimsuit. The tiny girl was a speed freak, she howled in delight every time Ed gunned the motor, all the while staying safely rooted on her bottom with Winnie any time the boat was in motion. 'Watch, watch Spike's gonna pop up behind the boat!'

'Like shack-in-boss?'

'Yep, like a jack-in-the-box.'

'Where?' Issy went to get to her feet to crane her neck and see him. 'Where, Winnie?'

'Hey, jumping bean.' Clark leaned over to poke his sister in the tummy. 'What's the deal?'

' 'Tay on bottom?'

'Or?' Clarke prompted her.

'No go boat?'

'Right.'

Issy plunked down to her little rump with an audible 'hmph!' then let out a little 'whee' when Ed hit the gas and shot them across the lake. She waved her hands in delight as Spike poppd up on the wake of the boat, his bright-green ski-vest undeniably eye-catching. 'See! Winnie see-see! Misser 'Pike!'

'I see Mister Spike,' Winnie laughed. 'He's very good.'

'Ver-goo,' Issy agreed seriously, then giggled again as Ed did a broad sweeping port-round at the south end of the lake. 'Daddy! Fasser!'

'Faster? Did Spike give a thumbs-up Clarke?'

'No, Issy's just being Issy.'

'Issy, we're going fast enough,' Ed informed his daughter, laughed when he heard her indignant little 'hmph!' again. 'Clarke, how is Spike?'

'Great!' Clarke leaned forward with his digital Canon Rebel, took some action shots. He knew his dad's friend would like that one since Spike was forever teased of being a city kid who didn't like outside sports all that much. Photos of himself water skiing would certianly go a long way to shutting up the naysayers. He caught sight of Spike giving the thumbs-down to decrease the speed, and relayed the order.

With the boat idling, they looped back so they were alongside Spike bobbing in the water like a neon green cork. Clarke took the wheel while Ed leaned over the side.

'Everything cool?'

'Yeah, just felt a pop in my knee and figured it would be better to slow down instead of crashing.'

'Good plan. Why don't you come on up here, hang with Issy while Winnie takes a spin?'

'Oh, I don't know,' Winnie spluttered, 'I'm not sure that would be so good.'

'Oh, come on Winnie, you'll be awesome at it,' Clarke blurted out before turning a light shade of crimson when his father sent him a look. 'You got your vest?'

'You be ah-some!' Issy gave her thigh a pat encouragingly. ' 'Larke say so!'

'Yeah, Clarke said so,' Spike added, hauling himself up the ladder while letting his single slalom ski float behind him on the water. He pecked Winnie's lips, making Issy groan and Clarke squirm. 'So do I.'

'Okay, okay, but if I end up with bruises on my butt from falling, no jokes.'

'Not a one,' Ed agreed; he'd read up on Winnie after her amazing moment with the girl on the cinema rooftop, had felt a stir of pity that someone so qualified for field work was stuck behind a desk because of an injury. 'If you want, we can grab another ski, you don't have to go slalom.'

'No, it's fine, I'll be alright.'

'You sure?'

Winnie nodded, her fear of being embarrassed outweighing everything else. She stripped off her t-shirt and shorts to reveal her sporty blue bikini before slipping in the water; a few moments later, her ski vest was in place, along with the ski and she was telling herself to breathe calmly as she adjusted her grip on the ski handle.

Spike watched her from the boat, Issy on his knee, with a little concern. Winnie did not look like she was enjoying herself at all, and he as about to tell Ed to turn them back when she yelled 'Hit it!' and Ed punched the motor. In a flash she was up and cutting in and out of the wake like a champ.

'Wow!' Issy watched the pretty Winnie lady go back and forth on the water, following her bright purple vest. 'Wow, Misser 'Pike, she ah-some!'

'She sure is.'

'You love Miss Winnie?'

'Yeah, Mister Spike how about it,' Ed added with his trademark smart-ass grin. 'You love Miss Winnie?'

'You know the answer to that, Ed.'

'Daddy? He no say uh-huh!' Issy protested, leading Clarke to sit down beside Spike and take Issy into his lap.

'Sometimes when people love each other but they haven't been going on dates a long time, they are very scared to say that word too soon because they don't wanna scare the other person away,' he explained to his sister. 'You have to say it at just the right time, so they will say it back.'

'Ohhh, like suh-pise pah-tee?'

'Kinda like that.'

'Ohhh.' Issy nodded in her serious little way that Spike knew she'd inherited straight from Ed. She leaned over, patted Spike's much larger hand with her little pudgy one. 'Misser 'Pike, I no 'poil suh-pise.'

'Thanks little lady.'

When Winnie gave the signal she was ready to end, Ed looped around to pick her up; as she climbed back into the boat, she saw what looked like a conspirator's wink coming from little Issy to her brother and Spike. 'What was that about, Issy?'

'A suh-pise,' Issy said importantly. 'Nudder time.'

'A surprise for another time? Sounds like you have been talking to Mister Spike.'

'Coo. 'Larke?'

'Yes my little jumping bean.'

'Mallows soon?'

'Not until it's dark out, and after everyone has had a nap so we can be awake to see the fireflies and enjoy the campfire,' Clarke replied, impressing Winnie and Spike with his attentiveness to the little girl.

'Ev-ee-one nap? Big peep-ahs too?'

'Yep, everyone, big peoples too.'

'Oh. Daddy?'

Ed chuckled; she'd definitely inherited her mother's chatty ways. 'What's up Issy?'

'I haffa nap wit' Misser 'Pike an' Miss Winnie?'

'What about me?' Clarke pretended to be insulted, and like any woman with a brother, Issy huffed out a little sigh and stared him down.

'See you lossa, buh-ro! We 'nuggle moh-woh!'

'Okay, I'm holding you to that promise.'

By the time they reached the dock, Issy was indeed getting the yawns and like any true toddler nearly had a meltdown when her mother told her she had to sleep in her own bed. A temper tantrum was avoided only when Spike and Winnie themselves intervened, telling Issy they had to go to their room - the loft on the third floor - first so they could change out of their wet swimsuits into dry clothes. Spike and Winnie had barely finished tugging on fresh things before they heard the knock on the door.

'Miss Winnie? Misser 'Pike? Safe?'

'Yes it's safe to come in, little lady,' Spike informed their little guest. He opened the door, saw she had what looked like a mutant butterfly tucked under her arm as she marched over to the queen-sized bed and plopped herself square in the middle. 'Comfy?'

'Uh-huh! 'Mon! It soft!'

'So are we making an Issy sandwich?' Winnie asked, rubbing the last of her post-sun aloe gel into her skin. 'Or does one of us get to hug you while we get a hug for ourself?'

'Mmm, sah-wish!'

'Sandwich it is.' Winnie crossed to the bed, stretched out so she was on Issy's left while Spike plunked down on her right. 'How's that?'

'Cozy! Where 'tuffy?'

'Tuffy?'

Issy held up her mutant butterfly proudly for Winnie's inspection. 'This my fi-fi.'

'Oh, your stuffy.' Spike nodded his understanding, gave the toy a kiss. 'Your fi-fi is very cute.'

'Winnie, you no haffa 'tuffy?'

'No, what I like to cuddle with is right over there.'

Issy followed Winnie's pointed finger to Spike and smiled. 'Oh, he nice too.'

'Yep, and now it's snooze time, or we're gonna miss out on the campfire! We can't miss out on the sing-along and marshmallows, can we?'

'Nuh-uh.'

'Sing-along?' Spike inquired, and Issy patted his mouth with her hand.

'No talkie. 'Nooze.'

* * *

'That was a fun day, and it's only day one of our weekend away.'

Spike grinned up at Winnie as she straddled him, hips lightly rocking; she wasn't meaning to get him all excited, but watching the way her unrestrained breast swayed lightly beneath her t-shirt was doing the job just fine. It was just past midnight and they finally had a moment alone. Finally, too, all those looks she'd given him, the way he'd caught her looking at him across the campfire, were finally getting their payoff.

'Oh, our fun's not done yet,' Winnie purred.

'Oh?'

'In fact, I think it's just getting started.'

She kissed him, running her fingertips down his stomach; she loved that he kept his body as clean shaven as his face, it was so much better to appreciate the beauty of his physique that way. Winnie bent to nip at his collarbone, smiling when she heard him hiss out a breath between his teeth. Then she was looking up into his eyes - Spike had rolled them so that he was on top of her, dragging her panties over her hips so she was naked beneath him. Her eyes went wide with delight when his fingertips grazed her at the vee of her thighs, saw him purse his lips.

'You got a Brasilian?'

'Yeah, I did, I like them for wearing with bikinis and feeling pretty for moments like this.'

'But there's like...nothing left.'

'I know, after the first time you use this-' she brushed his lips with her fingertips '-here-' she lowered her hand to touch where he touched her '-I was so embarrassed I wasn't waxed or anything.'

'Next time you get that done, please leave something.'

'You like that? Like, more than a landing strip?'

Spike nodded. 'When I go down on a woman, especially you, I like to know she's a mature woman capable of handling all of me.'

'Is that going to stop you right now?'

'Hell no.'

Winnie laughed, the sound turning into a gasp as he kissed his way down her naked body until he kissed the inside of her thigh, then used his tongue on her, dipping and swirling until she was incapable of rational thought. She felt herself crest towards the peak of pleasure, aware of only Spike and how he made her feel; before she could stop herself, the words were out of her mouth.

'Mike,' Winnie sighed, trying to keep her wits about her without much luck, 'do you have any condoms?'

'Yeah, just...just gimme a minute, they're in my shaving kit in the bathroom, okay?'

'Okay.'

Winnie sank back onto the pillows, eyes closed as she tried to keep it together. Finally, she thought, finally finally, they would take this step together, and what better way to do so than a hot, steamy night in the height of summer?

She waited, waited...and waited some more until she felt the buzz of anticipation dull to the impatience of delay. Sitting up she, pulled her panties back into place and her t-shirt over her head as she padded softly to the ensuite. To her utter lack of surprise, she saw him rummaging in his things and cursing ripely. 'Spike?'

'Yeah?' He looked over his shoulder and swore once again. 'Shit, Winnie, I'm so sorry. I forgot them.'

'You forgot them?'

'Yeah, I bought a brand new box since the other hones I had at home were expired and it's just common courtesy to use fresh on a serious girlfriend so I bought some Wednesday afternoon and-'

'That was the night we stayed at my place, and I put them in my bedside table drawer thinking they would be the box to keep at my place,' she interrupted him with a guilty smile. 'I'm sorry, baby, I didn't realize you were serious about us having sex this weekend.'

'I was,' he replied, 'I want you, all of you, in my life, and I figured we'd finally reached that point-'

'You figured right.'

'-So I took the chance.'

'Mike, it's okay.' Winnie crossed to him, kissed him sweetly. 'When you think about it, maybe the universe was looking out for us.'

'How so?'

'Well, let's look at this. We are in the loft of a three story house where you have a good portion of our immediate work colleagues sleeping, two teenage boys. Sound travels vertically and wood is a good conductor of vibrations, no?'

'Hehe, wood.'

'And,' Winnie continued, lips pursed to keep from giggling at his immaturity, 'we already know that Sam and Jules were offered the boathouse because she is pregnant and going through that whole rampant libido thing in her second trimester and that way they can be as loud as they want-'

'Which means they will get the brunt of the teasing instead of us, for once,' Spike concluded, kissing her back. 'I knew I was dating you for your brains and your beauty.'

'Aw, what a guy. Besides...'

'Besides what?'

'I...I brought something with me we could...play with.'

The word play had Spike's brain going to dirty places in a nanosecond. 'You mean you brought that little thing I found in the drawer that night?'

'Mmm-hmm.'

'Come with me.'

Spike took her fingers in his and led her back to their bed, flopped on his back. He'd fantasized one very lonely night when Winnie had said she'd be having a girls' night in that she'd spent her evening drinking wine and watching _Sex and the City _then gone to bed that night with something to pleasure herself as she possibly thought of him touching her body. That he now knew she did use such a toy from time to time, and he would get to take part in it harden him to iron; Spike knew he would need her to finish him off iafter watching her finish too.

'Michelangelo?'

'Hmm?'

'Get naked and close your eyes.'

'Now who's the bossy one?' But Spike did as she said, then felt the bed shift under her weight. He heard a subtle, gentle hum, felt his blood pump hard. 'Can I open my eyes now?'

'Yes.'

He did so, felt the spit spit dry up in his mouth when he saw Winnie's eyes, heavy with lust as she took his hand, guided it down between her thighs and closed it over the toy. He watched her hips rise and fall in a gentle rhythm, her lips opening ever so slightly to release her sigh of pleasure. Her own hand fell away from showing him what she liked, traced over his cheek to pull him in for a kiss.

'Mike, don't stop, that feels so good,' she moaned into his ear as her mouth streaked over his jaw. 'Forget the toy, use your fingers on me.'

'No, I like this, very much, Winona.'

'Yeah?'

'It's hot. Here.' Spike moved so he straddled her leg, ran his hand over her slightly curved stomach as she trembled for him. 'Now I can watch you, what it'll be like when you and I make love for the first time.'

'Yes.' Winnie nodded in agreement, his word choice not escaping her notice. She raised herself so her weight rested on her elbows, her back arching to change the angle and depth; she went to moan deeply, then found his hand clamped over her mouth.

'Winnie,' he murmured, trying not to laugh, 'you're very loud. Again, so fucking hot, but seriously, we've gotten enough teasing.'

'Okay. Pull it out.'

Spike did so, then groaned in pure frustration when she rolled to her stomach, lifted her hips. It took all his strength not to simply drive himself into her, but she deserved better from him for their first time together. Instead, he slipped the toy between her thighs, teasing her slick, heated secretive lips before slipping it inside her. He saw the genius of his girlfriend, as she turned her face to the pillow, her moans of pleasure muffled as he made her come, almost violently. When he set the toy aside, rolled her over, she popped up like a jack-in-the-box and tackled him backwards.

'Win-'

He only got out the first syllable of her name before she took him into her mouth, alternately licking and sucking until Spike had to put his hand over his mouth to stifle his own orgasmic yell. Chest heaving as he emptied himself into her, Spike swore he saw stars - bright little lights like fireworks dancing in front of his eyes as he came back to Earth. He felt Winnie slither up his body, rub her cheek against his chest.

'Mmm, that hit the spot?'

'Oh yeah,' he replied on a lazy sigh of total satisfaction. 'Win, we are upside down in bed.'

'We are.'

'I'm not in the mood to move. You?'

'Nope.'

'Alright then.'

Spike tugged the summer weight duvet from beneath their heads and wrapped them up in it, his beautiful, sexually-satisfied Winona asleep in his arms.


	23. Hot Fun in the Summertime II

'Morning sleepyhead.'

Winnie yawned hugely, stopped in her tracks on her path to the kitchen when she saw Leah in a tank-top and shorts that showed off long and leanly-muscled legs. She stood at the stove pushing around something in the frying pan that smelled absolutely delightful, and Winnie had to resist tugging at the hem of Spike's OPP Fun-Run t-shirt that skimmed the tops of her thighs just where the hem of her sleep shorts ended.

'Umm, hi.'

'Have a good sleep last night?'

'Yeah,' Winnie replied hesitantly, making Leah grin widely.

'Whatever you and Spike got up to last night, no one heard, _cherie_. We were all a little tipsy down at the campfire and there were no suspicious thumps coming from the loft so either you two finished up before we came up to sleep or you were discreetly enough to respect the others in the house.'

'You know, it's funny.' Winnie shook her head as she went to the fridge to find some of Sophie's homemade lemonade. 'Three months ago, I had a quiet little life to myself. I spent time with my co-workers now and then, spend time with my dad and Rachel and my brother, give my mom the requisite once-a-week checklist phone-call and mostly spend my time with girlfriends here and there from university. Then I start dating Spike and everything like boundaries and privacy becomes a thing of the past.'

'Welcome to Team One,' Leah chuckled. 'We are a family, and we love our people, and we won't tell you to cover up the warts, we'll compare ours with yours to see whose got the best ones.'

'Clearly.'

'No sex, then, huh?'

'Almost. We would have except the box of condoms he bought to bring with I put in my medicine cabinet at my apartment, thinking-'

'He'd bought those to keep at your place and already had his own,' Leah finished.

'Yep, that's the one.'

'Winnie, may I ask you something?'

'Of course.'

Leah nudged around the contents of her frying pan, waited until Winnie had finished sipping her drink. 'Are you waiting to sleep with Spike until you tell him you love him?'

'No, I...' Winnie trailed off, drank more lemonade to give herself time to collect her thoughts. Was it possible that was the real reason she'd put off - why they had both put off - having sex, so they could be that cute and cliched and have it not just be sex but true lovemaking? She shook her head. 'I...do...I love him, Leah, so much.'

'Girl that ain't news to anyone of us with eyes. We've all known that for awhile.'

'Even Spike?'

'Sure, just like you know he loves you right back and both of you think saying it too soon will scare each other away.'

Winnie nodded. 'That is one-hundred percent accurate. It's not just the the idea of having feelings like that about him, it's the fear of losing him.'

'And him being a bomb-guy, losing him doesn't necessarily mean a break-up.'

'Oh God Leah. Break-up is an even scarier word than 'bomb' to me where Spike is concerned.'

'Well how about this. We've all known Spike and you for awhile now and I know the last thing either of you is going to do is leave the other one.'

'Leah, did he ever have sex with Natalie?' Winnie blurted out, making Leah arch an eyebrow.

'You think he lied about his roster?'

'No, it's just...I know some guys will say no just to put their girlfriends at ease. I know one of my exes from university did that about this ex-masseuse he was involved with.'

'Spike would never do that, he believes in the truth no matter how painful it is. If he says no, the only thing that would be a more accurate measure is a polygraph.'

'Accurate for what?'

Winnie glanced over, felt her cheeks pink up when she saw Spike coming into the kitchen, clearly having followed his nose like she had. 'Whether or not weathermen are lying sacks,' she replied smoothly, leaving Leah to understand implicitly their little chat was girl-only territory.

'Yes, yes they are, they are the only people who can do their job, get it wrong and still be employed for months at a time.' Spike walked up behind Winnie, breathed deep the scent of her hair. 'Mmm, you smell fresh like the lake.'

'Like seaweed and fish?'

'Like summertime waters and sunny afternoons on the shore.'

'What a guy.' Winnie turned around to give him a kiss, then lightly wriggled away at the sound of footsteps on the stairs, followed by Issy, Sophie and Sam's voices.

'Mama, 'mell yummy!'

'It does smell yummy.'

'Where Miss Shoos?'

'Miss Jules is still asleep, she was up late last night and the baby in her tummy wanted to sleep in.'

'Oh. Miss Winnie!' Issy had reached the bottom of the stairs; she flew over to give her favourite non-mommy lady a big hug, then patted her stomach. 'Miss Winnie, you bumpy too?'

'Yeah Miss Winnie,' Sam teased her, loving how she turned a fetching shade of ketchup. 'Any chance you got a bumpy in there too?'

'No,' Spike and Winnie chorused together. 'Bumpies come much, much later.'

'Sometimes much much later, like my little firefly,' Sophie added, joining Leah in the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the household.

'Haffa be hubby an' wif',' Issy declared sweetly, then in the true fashion of youngster, promptly forgot it as she went into the kitchen and hugged Leah around the knees. 'Hi-hi Lee! You shiff a-day?'

'Smooth, Sam,' Winnie muttered, and Sam grinned widely.

'Do you know how much teasing I've taken from everyone about Jules being pregnant? Especially this guy here?' He pointed at Spike, who fought not to look guilty. 'He's the one who keeps telling me to stock up on tissues and ice cream for myself and my pregnant, hormonal wife.'

'Mikey,' Winnie playfully admonished him as the trio sat down at the island; no sooner had they done so when Issy wandered over, climbing up into Sam's lap.

'When you bee-bee bur-day?'

'It's supposed to be here around Christmas time.'

'Sanna buh-ring bee-bee?'

'Ummm...' Sam swallowed, and Winnie got a little surprise when he looked at Sophie in what could only be called pure new-daddy panic. 'Soph?'

'Santa won't bring the baby, Jules already has the baby growing in her tummy, and when the doctor says so, it will have his or her birthday.'

'Oh-kay Mama!' Issy sniffed the air comically, smacked her little lips. 'Mmmm, 'mell yummy! Miss Winnie, you help Mama, make yummy bik-fis?'

'She sure will,' Sophie replied with a smile.

'I am?' Winnie added, a little surprised.

'Yeah, Spike told Ed about those potato pancakes you make and we have lots of potatoes, so we can make them up while the rest of them are still snoozing.'

'Really?' The idea of him bragging about her when she wasn't around was a new concept to Winnie - she'd long been conditioned that only irritating little twits gushed about their new beaus, and that just because she was exponentially happy about a new relationship shouldn't mean she could talk about nothing else. That was a distant memory, though, as she watched Spike squirm a little in his seat. 'What else have you mentioned about me in the locker room, Mike?'

'Nothing but complimentary things, I promise.'

'Like what?'

'So, how about those potatoes?' Sam asked brightly, and Issy joined in, clapping away.

'Tay-toes! Nom-nom-nom!'

'Alright, fine you're saved by the toddler.' Winnie slipped off her seat, planted a lingering kiss on Spike's cheek. 'Don't worry, you're off the hook.'

'Thanks babe.'

'Awesome,' Sophie beamed. 'Leah is doing bacon and chorizo and turkey sausage right now, I'll do the fruit salad, and when Eddie is up he'll do eggs to order.'

Thirty minutes later, the kitchen was filled with the intoxicating scents of frying bacon and cooking potatoes; it was impossible for the rest of the sleepyheads to resist. Winnie was finishing putting the last touches on her skin-on mashed potatoes for homefries, and Leah was dishing up the various breakfast meats just as the remaining people in the household wandered in.

'Mmm, smells good in here, Sophie!' Greg sighed in delight as he leaned lightly on Marina's instead of his cane this morning. 'And Winnie and Leah, too.'

'Ooo, baby likes the look of that!' Jules' pregnant-sized appetite honed right in on the platter of mashed potato home-fries. 'Is there iced tea, too?'

'No, but there is lemonade and fruit salad,' Sophie replied, bringing the bowl to the island. 'Eddie, where are the boys?'

Ed, who'd appeared at the bottom of the stairs just in time, wiggled his phone at his wife before tucking it in his pocket. 'They stayed the night at the campground with Dean's girlfriend and her family. They'll head over sometime around lunch.'

'Well, Clarke is gonna be sorry he missed out on your homefries, Winnie,' Sophie informed her guest, making Winnie blush.

'They're just potatoes.'

'Yeah, with cheese and green onions and bacon,' Spike reminded her, 'all the best friends of potatoes in one delightful bite.'

'You're weird,' Winnie told her boyfriend, which only served to make Spike's chest swell with pride.

'You're the one dating the weirdo.'

'Awesome, I'm sleeping with Gonzo the Great.'

'Hey.' Sam snagged a strip of bacon from the platter, pointed it at Winnie. 'Don't knock the Great Gonzo, he's a beacon for misfits everywhere. Being a child genius who skipped a grade and nearly ended up with a criminal record because he likes to blow shit up, he'd be a god to little boys like him.'

'Exactly.' Ed slapped Sam's shoulder. 'Now, why are you sitting on your ass stealing food when you should be looking after your pregnant wife?'

'Because he knows if he tries to baby the baby, I'll kick him where he doesn't ever wanna be kicked,' Jules replied, grabbing a plate and rubbing her ever-rounding belly. 'He learned that the hard way once. He didn't have to learn it twice.'

'You kicked in the clackers?' Winnie asked, and Jules laughed.

'No, the head. I was napping and he was tucking the blanket around my feet,' she explained, scooping up potatoes, fruit and meat. 'I kicked him just above the ear thinking I was kicking alligators in my sleep.'

'You think that's bad?' Ed stepped in line behind Winnie, which earned him a squawk from Spike. 'You can feel up your girlfriend in private, Scarlatti, people are gonna be eating here. Anyways, Sophie, you remember when Clarke was a bump under the apron and you kept hitting me in your sleep?'

'You did?' Fascinated, Leah stopped pouring orange juice to be topped off with champagne for their brunch, so she could give the story her undivided attention. 'How often did that happen?'

'Every time he'd kick at her, and he was a bloody soccer player,' Ed replied, then looped an arm around Spike's shoulders as Winnie took her turn in the food line. 'Trust me buddy,' he added in a low murmur, 'give it a couple of years, you'll have your own little stories about Winnie like that.'

* * *

Hours later, still full from breakfast, Winnie found herself reclining on the back of the boat with Ed, Marina and Greg, a fishing pole in her hands as she tipped her face up towards the sun that was peeking in and out of the clouds.

'I would not have pegged you for being a fisherman, Winnie,' Greg confessed cheerfully, stretching his legs out while he sipped on his bottle of orange Gatorade. He may have griped about Marina shoving it into his hands but he was sure as hell thanking her now, out on the lake without a stitch of shade to be had. 'It's nice to know I can still be surprised by my friends.'

'Well my dad grew up in the Caribbean and even though we lived in the city, he was determined that we wouldn't be girls,' Winnie laughed.

'We?'

'My younger sister. Of course, now he also has my brother and Aaron is a man's manly man already at almost fourteen.'

'You should invite him over for Team One Christmas, give him a chance to be one of the big-boys. Clarke and Dean will be around from university and you know they'll treat him right,' Ed told her.

'Yes, it'd give Dean a reason to be out of the house not hanging with Mira for once,' Marina added from her spot on the bow of the boat, where she'd stretched out her towel and was paging through the latest issue of _Digital Spy_. She loved the way Greg kept glancing over at her, giving her that look he did like they were teenagers all over again; he was even doing it now as he gave her the slightly evil eye.

'What's wrong with Mira? Also, it's very weird that my son's girlfriend's name is damn close to my girlfriend's name.'

'Nothing is wrong with Mira, I would just like Dean to remember every so often that there are other human people in the world besides his lovely blondie.'

'He's young and in love, of course he's spending all his free time with her,' Ed pointed out, absently passing a hand over his head which made him think about whether or not he might need another coat of Coppertone up there. The last thing he needed was Clarke pointing and laughing at him again that he looked like a hard-boiled egg-head. 'Isn't that what Winnie and Spike are doing?'

'Eddie,' Greg shook his head and chuckled, 'if I were you, I'd think long and hard about the fact we are in the middle of a lake and Winnie could easily kick your ass overboard and make you swim home.'

'We don't spend every off moment we have together. Sometimes, it's enough just to be almost asleep and have him come to bed and put his arms around me, and oh wow do I sound cheesy,' Winnie finished on a little blush.

'No, you sound like Sophie,' Ed replied. 'When I have to work late, she tells me in the morning she always knows when I've come home because she can just feel herself sleep a little bit easier.'

'How come Spike didn't want to come fishing?' Marina asked. 'We could barely keep him out of the boat when it was water-sports time yesterday.'

'Spike doesn't particularly like fishing. He loves fish, but he is perfectly cool letting me do the catching. Mostly, I just don't think he has the heart to willfully end a life, human or fish.'

'That's Spike,' Greg agreed. 'I've never seen a cop with more respect for human life than him. It's why he's a great B-and-E guy.'

'You, on the other hand, are a stone-cold fish-killer?' Ed inquired, and Winnie shrugged.

'Fish are fish. On the other hand, I refuse to watch _Babe _out of fear I'll dehydrate from crying,' Winnie replied, then felt the jerk in her hands. 'Oh, I think I got one!'

Ed and Greg, and even Marina watched in admiration as Winnie reeled in her line, and pulled in an impressive sized pickerel which she promptly de-hooked and put out of its short misery. 'Very impressive, Constable Camden. Remind me to put you in charge of hand-to-hand combat drills next week,' Ed told her with a proud smile.

'Hand to fish, maybe. What do you think, is this enough to emasculate my boyfriend?'

'Nope, Spike is all man,' Greg replied, vaguely aware of how metrosexual he sounded. 'He's also crazy amazing with a barbecue so that grilled fish is gonna be like little bites of pickerel heaven once he's through with it.'

Despite the fact that Winnie caught three more fish over the next few hours they were out before calling it a day with the rods, she remained unconvinced by Greg's proclamation Spike wouldn't feel unmanned by her bringing home the bacon, or fish as it were.

When they reached the dock, Winnie had to smile at what she saw - Spike, Sam, Clarke and Dean were all hanging on the beach with Issy, helping her sculpt a sandcastle of epic proportions. At the sound of the boat reaching the dock, Issy's little head popped up and she flapped her little hands. By the time Marine had helped Greg out of the boat, and Ed was returning the fishing rods to the boat-house, Spike had reached them just as Winnie was hoisting the cooler of fish out of the boat.

'Hi honey,' he said brightly, 'you bring me home the bacon? Or fish?'

'Yes, yes I am and-'

'Perfect. Oo, pickerel!' Spike exclaimed as he lifted the lid on the cooler. 'I know exactly what to do with those bad boys. And speaking of bad boys...'

He pulled Winnie in for a kiss, murmured in her ear, 'how does a little midnight skinny-dip strike you?'

'That sounds perfect.'


	24. Man I Feel Like a Woman

Winnie looked around, made sure the coast was clear as she stuck her head out of the locker room before she emerged in her yoga pants and TIFF volunteer shirt, her long brown hair tucked beneath a psychedelic-coloured bandana. God she needed to sweat, to loosen the body and mind, get her mother out of her head. Gabriella the Great had called her that morning, asking her how everything was going; because she was on the swing shift, she was still in bed at nine am while Spike was on days, and her mother had once again assumed she was just being a lazy-ass. Well a little bit of German heavy metal would drown her out, Winnie decided as she selected her Power-Run mix on her iPod, shuffled the tracks so Du Hast by Rammstein came up first.

She closed her eyes as she began to run, felt the movements of her body, let her mind drift away as she imagined herself in a training montage like _Rocky_ or _The Karate Kid_. It felt so good to just let this be the focus, let her senses be aware of only herself - the curves of her body, the length of her legs, the blood rushing in her veins as her skin warmed from exercise. She stretched her arms forward, up, out to her sides like a bird about to take off, unaware she was mouthing along the words until she registered someone in the background speaking to her. Winnie glanced over, saw Jules with her rounded belly there as she sat down at the recumbent bike. She paused her music, yanked out an earbud.

'Sorry, what was that Jules?'

'I said I'm surprised to see you in here, you usually don't catch gym time the same time we do.'

Jules studied her friend, pursed her lips as she set the light cycle. She'd thought she'd be annoyed at no longer being abel to have the same level of intense workouts as the rest of Team One, but the extra energy being put into growing a healthy baby made her forget about it. 'You doing sprints or cross country training?'

'Time trial. Aaron's new school, Appleton Academy, they've already recruited him for the track team. The first major event is the Terry Fox run, where you can have any member of your family compete along side you.'

'Cool.' Jules made a mental note to tell Sam about it, make sure they all made a point of being there to cheer Winnie on; she was part of the family, officially now. She set her program to gently pump her legs, glanced over where Winnie continued to pound her way through the run like she was being chased by hellhounds. 'So, big plans tonight after shift?'

'Mike and I are going out for Italian. Kind of a big thing.'

'Oh, one of those important fancy date nights?'

'Very. This place, Andolini's, he goes there now that his ma is back in Italy. They know him, it's...it's a big deal.'

'What's a big deal?'

Winnie had to fight the groan when Leah came in, all buzzed hair and buff muscles as she went straight for the quad-press machine. 'Date night with Mike,' she replied, hoping drinking from her water bottle would allow her a slight reprieve from answering questions.

'Oh, yeah, he mentioned that yesterday. You two are going to Andolini's tonight after shift, right?'

'Yes.' Winnie gritted her teeth as she felt the incline on the treadmill increase. 'It's a kind of big-date night.'

'Oooo, are you and Spike gonna go all the way,' Jules teased her friend, then stopped pedalling when she saw Winnie turn bright red. 'Wait, wait, wait hang on. Winnie, you and Spike have been together since June, and you're telling me you two haven't...'

'No, we haven't,' Winnie said with a little shake of her head.

'But...why?'

'We wanted to get used to each other as more than friends first. Sex is never just sex, it always complicates things, and I know with Mike, it's...we want it to be special.'

'Oh my god!' Jules stopped pedaling, heaved her ever-expanding pregnant self up from the bike to come over and study Winnie's face in earnest delight. 'Oh, my god Winnie, you love him! Not just like a 'thanks for bringing me a coffee on a busy day' love him, like 'I wanna grow old with you' love him.'

'We've only been together two months,' Winnie reminded them, finishing her workout and going into cooldown.

'Walk us through a typical day with him,' Leah told her as she hopping on the standing bike; she finally got to use it for once since it was the Boss always hogged it. 'Let's say you're both on days. What happens if you stayed the night at his place?'

'He gets up with the alarm, does his morning routine thing and comes in, wakes me up when he's getting dressed. He always puts his watch on before anything else because he is a bomb guy and always has to know what time it is. When I'm getting showered and ready to go, he'll be making us breakfast, usually toaster waffles or cereal or something. He keeps tea in the house because I don't drink coffee and sometimes if I'm having a slow morning, he puts my uniform on the closet door hanger.'

Winnie paused to take another sip of her vitamin water. 'By the time I'm ready he's already made his way through half his breakfast but since I don't eat much in the mornings it doesn't slow him down. We get to work and he gives me the 'have a good day at work honey' kiss in the car so we don't give anyone anymore chances to tease us.'

'Fair enough.'

'Work is work. I have paperwork, lots of it, dialed in on calls if and when they happen. If not, I try to catch lunch with all of you so we can have our separate but together work space.' She laughed a little. 'He always come by to make me laugh about something.'

Jules grinned, the fluttering of her heart not diminishing a moment as Winnie went on. 'If we're both done on time at end of shift, we figure out if we wanna do something together. If one of us is going to be late, sometimes the other one takes the keys and heads home to make food, maybe rent a movie or something, figure out if there's a sports game on somewhere nearby to go and check out or go see Raf play piano at his club. Then we...we just spend time together, let the day go and be with each other.'

'Right.' Leah's dark eyes were glittering with happy light. 'Yeah, that's not being in love at all.'

'Winnie.' Jules smiled as she put her hand on her friend's that gripped the rail of the treadmill. 'You can't plan for the big things like that. Hell, I know that better than anyone, don't I?'

'I guess, yeah. Just...what if he doesn't feel it back, and I look like a fool?'

'The only thing you're going to look like is a million bucks.' Leah arched her eyebrow. 'You got your clothes here for date night?'

'Yeah, in my locker.'

'Good. Finish up here with us, then we are going to give you what seems to be long overdue.'

'What's that?'

'The full enjoyment of looking sexy as hell in front of the guys and all of them being jealous that Spike gets to take you home,' Jules replied sunnily. 'Now hit the weight machine.'

'Why?'

'That's why.'

Jules plunked herself on the bike again, began to pedal lightly as the noise of the guys approaching reached Winnie just as she busied herself with ab-and-adductor leg press. She set her music once again to give her a steady rhythm, picked a point on the opposite wall to concentrate so that when she saw Spike walk in wearing his sweats she tried not to think of how he wore something similar to bed the last night they'd stayed together, and she'd wasted no time getting him out of it. Instead she focused on the push and pull of her muscles, waiting until Spike walked over to her, that damningly adorable dimple in his cheek winking away.

'Hey you.'

'Hi.'

'Didn't know you were working out here today.'

'Slow day,' Winnie shrugged with a smile, catching Leah watching them out of the corner of her eye. 'We still on for dinner tonight?'

'Wouldn't miss it. You need to go home first?'

'Nope.' Winnie playfully shook her head. 'Got my sexy date-night clothes in my locker.'

'What a coincidence so do I.' Spike wanted to kiss her, frustrated that it was against the rules of the station if not the team - they just loved oo-ing and ahh-ing over their displays of affection. 'Pick you up after shift?'

'Sounds good to me.'

Once he'd settled himself on the rowing machine, Spike discreetly watched Winnie sweat her way through leg presses, admiration for her in every breath. He still couldn't believe his good fortune that Venus herself had walked into his life in the form of Winnie Camden. To think of his life without her in it the way she was in it now was incalculable to him, like going on a bomb call without Babycakes. He laughed at himself as he remembered how Winnie had been on her break the day before, he'd been in the robotics lab working on some new programming with her when Winnie had stopped by. He'd charmed his girlfriend by making the robot pick up the cluster of pencils service as his mock pipe-bomb to give to her like a bouquet of flowers. She'd even sniffed them, and patted Babycakes' head, which Spike had made appear to duck in bashfulness. Something more had swam through him in that moment when he saw her smile at the bomb-bot, something just as volatile as C-4 and just as life-altering.

'Yo, Lover-boy.'

'Huh?'

'Oh man, you are in deep if you respond to that,' Sam chuckled as he hit the rowing machine, keeping a weather eye on his wife who was gently pedaling away on the recumbant bike. 'Where are you two going tonight?'

'Andolini's, where else is our favourite Italian gonna take his girlfriend for chicken parm?' Ed scoffed.

'Except if I'm remembering correctly, he's never taken a date there, nevermind a real girlfriend,' Leah pointed out to the boys, switching from tricep curls to shoulder fly-swings. 'That should tell you something.'

'Yeah, that he lo-' Sam cut himself off when Jules let out a sharp little 'oof', stopped pumping her legs. She rubbed her hand over the baby bump and he was at her side in a flash. 'Jules, what's wrong, what is it?'

'It's...it's the baby.'

'Oh my god-'

'Sam.' Jules gave a happy little laugh. 'It's kicking! It kicked me! Watch!'

She took his hand, laid it on her belly and Sam's eyes went wide when he felt the nudge beneath his palm. 'Isn't that amazing?'

'Jules...wow, just...'

Spike watched Sam break all the rules and give his wife a juicy kiss on the mouth as he left his hand on her rounded little belly. He wrapped his knuckles against the machine, then darted out of the gym to the locker room; he saw Winnie just as she was leaving the ladies' room, probably in an alcove that was the most private place on the SRU's main floor. He grabbed her arm lightly, tugged her in and crushed his mouth to hers. He parted her lips lightly with his tongue, teasing her so that she squeaked. When he drew back, he saw her eyes wide and dark with fascination.

'Mike, you can't just do that,' she hissed, trying not to giggle as her nerves scrambled back to normal. 'What if Holloran or someone else sees us?'

'Then fuck them. The baby started kicking and Sam gets to be there for Jules. Why is this different?'

'The baby's kicking?' Winnie clapped her hands. 'Oh yea!'

'Yeah, yeah, it's a wonderful magical moment that should belong to just Jules and Sam,' he told her, making Winnie relent.

'Which meant you slipped away to come see me. God I- that's so sweet.' She'd nearly said 'God I love you', but that would have been just dangerous all the way around. 'I'm very excited to see what the big fucking deal is about this Italian restaurant.'

'The big fucking deal is that this place knows me, I can just go in sit down and they bring me stuff, they know what I like and it made the adjustment to my pops being gone and my ma moving a lot easier.'

Now Winnie reached out, stroked her hand over his shoulder, his cheek. 'You're a very sweet man, Michelangelo. I'll be ready as soon as I can tonight.'

* * *

When her shift was done, Winnie barely waited to see Pete coming through the door before she was off like a shot to the locker room. Team One hadn't had any hot calls that day which meant going home on time for the second time that week, and she was going to have time to get herself looking as sexy as she could in a cop shop for her Big Date with Spike.

She yanked open the door, stopped short when she saw Jules and Leah by her locker, its contents on the bench behind them. 'Someone call the cops, my locker's been raided,' she quipped, alerting them to her presence. They turned like a single unit, Leah smiling her wide trademark smile.

'Good, you're here.'

'That's my stuff.'

'And very pretty stuff it is,' Jules agreed, brandishing the mini-bolt-cutters she'd used on her friend's locker. 'We were already here so we figured you could use a hand getting everything ready in case you were behind the clock to get ready for your dinner with Spike.'

'Come, sit.' Leah patted the chair she'd dragged over in front of the triple-top sink with its wide mirror. Winnie's eyes widen when she saw Leah pick up her flat iron, began to clip her hair up so she could begin straightening it.

'Leah, what are you doing?'

'What?'

Winnie was about to say she could do it herself, knew from her own psych training it was her taking her stress out on her friends. She'd always been the girl to help others and then do her own thing when it came to being girlish like this. She'd never had girlfriends who wanted to do that back for her, at least not until now. Winnie gave a short sigh, passed her a green tube of Garnier hair product. 'You have to use that first before the flat iron so it gives it style instead of just looking flat.'

'Yeah, I don't usually have to worry about things like that,' Leah replied, brushing her fingertips over her buzzed head. 'I'm all about the lip colours when it comes to my personal appearance off the clock. My smile is my best feature and I use it to my advantage.'

'Winnie, you have some seriously nice taste girl.' Jules let out a low whistle as she held up the body-hugging teddy in emerald green satin; it was edged with creamy lace at the bust and the matching panties had barely an ounce of fabric to their name. 'Hoping this will inspire Constable Scarlatti when you're having dessert at home?'

'Maybe. Alright, yes,' Winnie admitted as Leah gently stroked the flatiron over her hair, taking out the post-workout shower frizz. 'Is it so bad to want him fantasizing about what I'm wearing underneath my dress while we're having supper?'

'Not at all. Sam still does that to me about my SRU uniform,' Jules replied, rooting through Winnie's cosmetics bag and pulling out her atomizer of shea butter body mist. 'Oh, yeah, wear that for sure.'

'Horny preggo,' Leah teased her.

'And don't you forget it. Ooh, Winnie, he's a dead man.' Jules held up the dress, a lovely emerald and white polka-dot sundress, the kind that would look sexy and sweet at all once. 'You wear that lingerie underneath this, and Spike will be a very happy man.'

'Pretty dress, pretty hairstyle. Ta-da!' Leah gave a flourish, showed off her work to Winnie who smiled. 'Pretty nice, huh?'

'Yeah, it looks great. Who'd have guessed it,' she laughed.

'Dress or make-up next?'

'Well I'm not getting changed into sex-wear in front of you two.'

'Winnie.' Jules wrinkled her nose as she smiled. 'We already saw you in a bikini a week and a half ago, this is gonna cover up a lot more than that. No need to be shy.'

'I'm not shy, I just...'

'It's okay to be nervous for your first time with the man you love,' Leah reassured her, rubbing her shoulders in support, 'and call me crazy, but I bet Spike will be just as nervous as you.'


	25. Is This Love

While the girls helped Winnie get herself ready, in the men's locker room Spike stood in front of the sink in the men's locker room, scraping his razor over his foamed-coated cheeks and chin. Winnie liked him a little scruffy, but he wanted to be smooth for her today. He was more than a cop to her, he knew, but he wanted - needed - to give it that little extra edge so when they went home that night, she would find him irresistible. Hopefully she wouldn't think he was overdoing it with the little surprise he had planned once the public portion of their night was done.

Face shaven, he patted himself dry, then smoothed on the aftershave with a light hand to ensure it wouldn't be overpowering. A little dab of that stuff went a long way, he'd discovered, and he didn't want Winnie coughing and gagging when he was trying to be sexy.

He was finishing doing his hair - God, he sounded like Wordy, now there was a guy in touch with his metrosexuality - when Ed and Sam came over to him like Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum. Both were clearly trying to hold off of teasing him without much success; it was finally Ed who spoke up.

'So, big plans tonight, Cassanova?'

'Taking my girlfriend to Andolini's, you really need to work on your icebreaker tactics, Ed,' Spike told him, reaching for his tie and trying to tie a Windsor knot, fumbling it every time he tried to get it right.

'Gimme that, you're gonna make a noose out of it yet,' Ed sighed. He pursed his lips, flicked his eyebrows as he folded the silk for his friend. 'So, do we need to ask you what your intentions are with our fair Winnie? Review the do's and don'ts of condom etiquette?'

'Are you taking her flowers or a little gift?' Sam chimed in.

'You guys are ridiculous. It's just dinner, maybe dancing.'

'Spike, you've been going out with Winnie for two months now, bro,' Ed reminded him. 'This is the first time I've seen you put on a fresh shirt, nevermind a tie for her. This is one of those Big Date nights in capital letters, isn't it?'

'Please tell me you're not going out for your two month anniversary, that's just lame,' Sam said. 'You in your thirties, it's six months and up.'

'First off, our first date was June twelfth so if we were gonna be that cheesy, it would have been a week and a half ago,' Spike pointed out as Ed handed him back his tie. 'Secondly, I figured it was time to take her out for something a little bit fancier than the usual places.'

'And then, what, she'll have to put out afterwards as a thank you?' Sam asked him drily, making Spike's cheeks pink up. 'How nineteen fifties of you, Scarlatti.'

'I'm not taking her out like this as an excuse to get her into bed. I...' Spike puffed out his cheeks, and this time it was Ed who connected the dots.

'Spike we've known for a long time that you love her, what's the harm in saying it to her?'

'That it could ruin everything if she doesn't feel the same way?'

'Have a little faith buddy.' Sam squeezed his shoulders, held up his friend's jacket on his finger as they followed Spike out of the locker room to the foyer. 'You not putting your stuff in the truck?'

'Already have what I need for tomorrow at home. It's my day off,' Spike explained, 'and Winnie's too.'

'So plenty of time for breakfast in bed.'

Spike looked up, saw Leah and Jules there looking like a pair of Sylvester Cats who'd finally eaten poor little Tweety-Bird. 'I'm just hoping you get that kind of treatment on your day off, Jules. How's our rookie doing?'

'Hungry,' she replied, patting her belly. 'I'm thinking paninis tonight.'

'We can hit the grocery store on the way home. Ready to go?'

'In a minute.' Jules looked down the hallway and gave a happy little wiggle. 'I wanna see this.'

Spike heard the delicate click-clack of high-heels on the industrial tiled floor, turned to see their source and felt the blood drain out of his head. Wow, was all he could think when he saw Winnie in her dress, hair pinned so part of it was up off her shoulders, the rest flowing like a water-fall down her back. Her long legs were shown off perfectly in her dress and Spike thought he saw just the bare-hint of lace near her lush breasts. She looked like a model, but she wasn't some paper fantasy, she was flesh and blood and all his.

Winnie walked out slowly, reveling in the dopey expression on her boyfriend's face. She could do that, she thought, she could make him feel as dumbfounded and flustered as she felt with a single look, the way those smouldering eyes seemed to burn right through her defenses. And damn did he look fine in that suit; more, she knew how fine he looked under that suit, how the broad shoulders would feel under her hands, the smooth texture of his skin. She drew closer and felt her senses thrum - he was wearing that cologne again, that musky Italian paesano scent that no longer confused her but aroused her because she now associated that scent with her man. Her man, she thought again with a soft smile.

'Hey,' she said softly, fingers tapping the side of her purse. 'You look amazing.'

'Hey back,' he replied in the same husky tone. 'You look pretty awesome yourself. You ready to go?'

'Of course.'

Spike nodded, turning back to see Ed and Sam silently giving him mad props for his terrific taste, before letting his hand float over the small of her back as they headed for the parking lot.

Back in the foyer, the Team watched them go, feeling a little bit like the parents of two crazy kids off to the prom.

'Think he'll do it tonight?' Sam asked Ed and Ed shook his head.

'Nope, our boy won't do it tonight.'

'Wait until he sees what she has on under that dress,' Jules told her hubby, rubbing her belly where the baby seemed to be kicking in agreement. 'Then there will be no holds barred whatsoever.'

'What are you talking about?' Sam scoffed, moving over so he coudl rub Jules' belly too. 'Spike totally loves her, he can hardly not say it. Why, what did you think I meant?'

'That they weren't gonna finally sleep together.'

'Pregnancy has turned you into a gutter brain, Jules.'

'Actually, it's kind of a refreshing flip,' Leah said, hoping to steer them all away from this part of the conversation. 'Besides, we can always compare notes after study hall tomorrow.'

'Alright, you heard the lady,' Ed admonished them all. 'Since our friends have plans and we apparently have no lives, what say we stop in see the Sarge and then head out for two-for-one wings night at the Goose?'

'I say lead on, fearless leader.'

* * *

Andolini's was a charming neighbourhood place with a patio ringed by a wrought-iron fence that matched the glass-topped table and chair sets. The warm August air teased the scent of tomatoes and garlic and freshly baked bread from the open windows, and the noise of clinking silverware, orders being called out in Italian, of people having a good time made Winnie smile.

'It looks busy, are we going to have to wait for a table?' Winnie asked, and Spike let out a sharp amused laugh as he held open the door for her, guiding her through with his hand on the small of her back.

'Ha! Oh, Winnie, I'm sorry, sweetheart,' he chuckled. 'No, we won't be waiting.'

'You're pretty confident.'

'Hey! Michelangelo!'

Spike wiggled his eyebrows as the small thickly-built man with pewter hair and friendly green eyes approached them; he was wearing a clean white apron tied at his waist and pulled Spike in for a hug like he was his own son.

'Bruno, wonderful to see you.'

'And who is this _bella signorina_?' Bruno turned his warm smile to Winnie, took her hand to graze her knuckles with his lips.

'This is my girlfriend Winnie.'

'Girlfriend! Why this the first time I hear about her?'

'Because we started dating just a little while ago?' Spike countered in the same 'fucking-duh' tone that both men clearly took as a cheeky little game to Winnie's way of thinking. She was proven right when they got an exasperated wave from Bruno who didn't bother pulling menus from the hostess podium. Instead, he led them through the restaurant to the side terrace where they had the perfect view of the city streets. Bruno pulled out her chair, lit the little votive in a red glass holder on the table. 'The usual for you, Michelangelo?'

'For the _primi_, sure, but since I have my lady with me-'

'Say no more.' Bruno went to the door, hollered something across the dining room in Italian and waited to receive an equally loud reply. He nodded briskly, then came back to the table. 'The girl needs to eat, she's too skinny.'

Winnie lifted a brow; she'd been called many things but too skinny had never been one at all in her adult life.

Spike must have sensed her slight bafflement as well - he leaned in and explained, 'Bruno's family and mine come from the same area of Italy, where being able to be luscious and curvy was a sign of wealth - you owned the vinyards and olive farms instead of working on them.'

'Oh, gotcha.'

'So we start with the _anti-pasti_, the _primi_ and the _secundo_, then the_ dolce e caffe_.'

Bruno disappeared and Winnie sent Spike a charmed smile. 'No wonder you like this place, if this is what Italian families are like,' she commented. 'Sit down and shut up and eat?'

'Well, my family usually skipped that second part,' Spike replied, taking her hand and playing with her fingers.

He loved that she kept her hands unadorned; there was something so pure about it. He'd also discovered that despite his fantasies, she had no tattoos or piercings of any kind, yet somehow that was more of a turn-on than if she had been bodily decorated. His pure angel, well, no one was pure, he knew, but there was something so good about her heart that made him immediately link that word to her.

He leaned over, kissed her lips sweetly and grinned. 'You will be in for a treat when you meet them.'

'Right, about that. My mom's birthday falls on the Friday night of the Thanksgiving weekend, and my dad's invited us to his place with Rachel and Aaron for the weekend, so are you cool if we stop at her place for the night before we go to Mississauga?'

'Sure. Should I get a gift or what?'

'Like a gift-gift? I don't think so. A bottle of nice wine, some flowers and a card will do the trick.'

'Cool. And I can see talking about your family has put that look in your eyes so new topic. Like...' Spike leaned in, turned his head so he was whispering in her ear. 'How sexy you look in that dress. Mkes me wanna take you home and-'

'Here we are!'

Bruno reappeared with a chilled bottle of white wine and two glasses, followed by a young man with Sicilian features carrying a platter of bite-sized goodies. Anti-pasti, he'd called it, Winnie remembered as Bruno poured them each a short glass of pinot grigio.

'This one, it's a gift from us to you for finally letting us me lovely Miss Winnie. Now.' Bruno reached over to snap a bright bloom off the hydrangea plant just behind Winnie, offered it to her like a suitor presenting a princess priceless gems. 'For the house specials tonight we have our _farfalle e pollo alla cacciatoria, osso buco, _or _penne primavera_. We are also serving a delicious _minestrone_ and-'

'I think...' Spike pursed his lips - knowing it would send Winnie's heart and libido into a fluttering delight, he ordered in flawless Neapolitan Italian. 'Yes, that should do it.'

Bruno nodded, bowing graciously before disappearing. When he'd done so, Spike turned to look at Winnie, felt her foot slip out of her shoe and stroke up his calf. He sucked in a breath, tried to keep his cool even as the blood rushed below his belt. 'Constable Camden, are you trying to seduce me?'

'Fair is fair, since you know how I feel when you speak Italian.'

Spike took her hand in his, kissed the knuckles before moving his lips up to nibble at her earlobe. 'Yes, I do. That's the point, sweetheart.'

'Michelangelo, just remember, you're not the only one who can tease.'

'Oh?'

'Yeah, I went La Senza's new lingerie boutique, La Senza Steam, and let's just say that the panties I'm wearing weigh less than the tissue paper they were wrapped in when I bought them.'

Winnie had the purely female satisfaction of watching him swallow tightly, drink a long gulp from his glass of wine. She coyly sipped her own once, then twice. Bruno was right, the pinot grigio was delicious. 'What are you thinking now?'

'I'm glad that this place won't think it strange to ask for dessert to go.'

'Or will that just be adding to dessert we can have at home?'

'Both.' Spike winked at her. 'I plan on working up an appetite for something sweet later on.'

'That makes two of us. For now...' Spike picked up his fork, speared a grilled prawn and held it out for her to bite. 'Taste.'

'Mmm, it's a good thing I'm confident in the strength of your affection for me to offer me something soaked in garlic butter on our first big date night,' Winnie laughed, then bit in. 'Mmm, yummy. My turn?'

At his nod, she picked up her own fork and delicately stabbed a round of boconccini and a cherry tomato dusted with basil and olive oil. She watched him close his lips over the fork, close his eyes in culinary ecstasy. 'God that's good,' he moaned.

'Who said food can't be sexy?'

'No one,' Spike replied immediately; he dropped his fork so he could pick up the bite of bruschetta to offer to her for nibbling. 'How's that one?'

'Even more yummy,' Winnie replied around the bite; she swallowed and shot him a cocky look. 'I think...'

'Yeah?'

She took her time, lick a tomato from her thumb before dipping the tip of her finger into the balsamic glaze dipping sauce. She watched the muscle twitch in his jaw as she licked it off, smiled seductively. 'We better stop teasing each other like this, otherwise we might end up arresting ourselves for public indecency by having sex right here on the patio.'

'Agreed. Besides.' Spike paused as he selected a stuffed mushroom cap. 'Our tiramisu will taste even better when I'm licking it off your naked body in my bed.'

'Oh, most definitely agreed.'

* * *

They entered Spike's townhouse not in the frenetic frenzy of impatient lust, but with the cautious, practiced moves of people wanting to equally devour and savour a moment. Winnie waited while he put the tiramisu into the fridge, then smiled when he took her fingers, and just pulled her in close for a kiss. She closed her eyes, drinking him in. God, what a man he was, she thought. A gorgeous, passionate and compassionate man with a teenage sense of humour and the innate drive to do the right thing. He put himself on the line day in and day out, sometimes staring down his own mortality and winning that particular round. He could do that, then come back to her and make jokes about Timbits or the Leafs chances of making the playoffs and just be Spike beyond Constable Scarlatti. Sometimes Winnie wondered if he knew just how much those little moments made her job that much easier to do, and that trying to imagine her life without him was damn near impossible.

Spike sighed as he felt her fingers slip over his shoulders, up the back of his neck to pull him in close. His beautiful Winnie, Winona Michelle Camden, sweet and sexy and smart all over. A cop whose praises often went unsung because there would be some, sometimes herself included, who saw her as little more than a glorified secretary with a badge. Spike knew they were dead wrong, that without Winnie's input on their calls there would be little chance for them to be fully successful. Sometimes there were those calls that were just a little harder to walk away from, the ones that never washed clean away; when those kind made an appearance, she was there with her loving embrace and telling him everything would be okay. That was a feeling he never wanted to leave ever.

'Winona.' Spike took her face in his hands, looked into her eyes. 'Come to bed with me.'

'To bed?' Winnie replied dreamily.

'Yes. To my bed, so...' He trailed off, dropping his forehead against hers as he swallowed before finishing his thought. 'So we can make love together.'


	26. Seduces Me

_Okay dear readers - the moment we've all been waiting for! It's of course an NSFW ch and you made also need a glass of ice water!_

* * *

Winnie felt her breath hitch in her chest at his words. Oh yes, this was what the poets, or at least John Cougar Mellenkamp had meant when they spoke of love hurting so good. Spike's words made her ache with such sweetness for him it nearly overwhelmed her, but instead she found herself murmuring words from the heart.

'Yes, Michelangelo. Together.'

Spike kissed her again, so tenderly Winnie was amazed she didn't simply slip into a puddle of goo at his feet then and there. Then he was taking her by the hand and leading her upstairs to his room, opening the door with a flourish. 'Wait here a moment.'

'Okay.'

A little befuddled, Winnie did as he asked her - the room was nearly pitch black with only a little light coming from the window. Then she heard the snap and hiss of a torch, saw the flame touch the wick of a candle. Then another and another until the room was gently glowing and Spike was gesturing with sheepish pride.

'Ta-da,' he said lightly, saw Winnie's face light up in surprise.

He'd transformed his bedroom, his usual crash-space, into a boudoir of near-epic proportions. He'd changed out the usual linens from Italian blue to a deep eggplant purple silk, so the light from the strategically placed candle holders with their mirrored surfaces made the bed look like a lagoon seeing the first flickers of dawn The candles themselves were lightly scented with coconut and lime, so that when Winnie closed her eyes, she could easily imagine they were in their own private cabin on a tropical island. When she opened them, she saw he'd stripped off his dress shirt and socks so that he was barefoot, bare-chested and wearing only his black dress pants and his thin gold chain with the small gold horn for good luck.

'Oh Mike,' she sighed, felt her throat close up. 'All this is for us?'

'For us,' he agreed. 'I...I wanted to surprise you, treat you right. As hot as it might have been at Ed and Sophie's cottage, you deserve the best.'

Winnie ground her teeth together to keep from weeping delicately at his thoughtfulness, his desire to give them a true night of romance. Instead she turned to him, kissed him sweetly, felt the edges of lust begin to unfurl. 'I'm going to slip into the bathroom, slip out of this dress so-'

'No.' Spike shook his head. 'I wanna unwrap you myself.'

'Okay.'

Spike sat down on the foot of the bed, drew Winnie close then turned her so he could run his hands up her back. He found her nearly-invisible zipper, gently drew it down and let out a groan when he saw what she wore beneath. The emerald satin glowed jewel-like against her caramel skin, and the panties - if they could even be called that - were transparent lace that let him see her smooth backside. When she turned around, he felt the rest of his blood drain into his lap at the sight of her breasts swelling gently above lace that matched her panties. A quick sweeping glance let him see through the lace of her panties to let him know she'd taken his advice about no more Brasilians.

'Winona,' he breathed, 'you are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.'

'You're the most handsome man I've ever see,' she replied, not bothering to hide her gaze from him - he loved when she looked at him, and his flag was flying proudly from looking at her in her lingerie. She could make him feel that way too, something that forever made Winnie feel like the most powerful woman in the world. Leaning down, she kissed him, slipping her tongue around the edges of his lips before she straightened up and began to pop the pearl buttons of her teddy open one at a time.

Spike swallowed tightly as inch by inch she shed the satin; he had a flash of the time he and Sam went to see a Dita Von Teese show at the York Diamond nightclub. This was far and away better than any burlesque show, for it was meant just for him. When Winnie stood naked but for her tiny little panties before him, he lifted his arms to stroke his hands up and down her thighs just as he'd done the first time they'd gotten naked together. Only this time, Winnie moved in and straddled him as she kissed him, deepening it so that she tumbled him back and she moaned lightly as she pressed her hips against his.

'Mm, Michelangelo, I bet this is how you got the nickname Spike,' she purred, and Spike gave a light laugh.

'No, it's not, but thank you,' he returned in the same husky tone.

'Well, let me double-check.'

Winnie sat up straight, scooted back; she closed her eyes, biting her lip when his hands stroked up her sides, then moved to cup her breasts. How did he always know just where to touch, what to do to make her feel so damn good? She let her head roll back forward as she opened her eyes, licked her lips. 'Mike, baby, I'm trying to seduce you and you're making it hard for me to even remember my name.'

'You already have, Winona.'

'Oh...' She pressed a hand to his chest, felt the clap of his heart beneath her palm. 'Why don't you let me finish getting you naked?'

'No.'

'No?'

'No.' With lightning quick moves, Spike flipped them so he was stretched on top of her, crushing his mouth to hers. He felt her legs shift, open to accept him against her body; he ground his hips deep against hers, making her moan against his lips. He rose off the bed, waiting until Winnie had propped herself on her elbows to watch him. 'You're not the only one who can tease.'

He watched her face as he slow dragged his zipper down, let his dress pants fall to the floor; Spike felt his ego get a nice stroke when he saw her eyes go wide with anticipation - he'd gone commando for their date, and Winnie had never been more thankful for it in her life.

For a moment, Winnie felt a quick lick of panic in her stomach. Spike wasn't just gifted, he was well-endowed and she was momentarily afraid that she wouldn't be able to handle him inside her. Then she relaxed as he slithered on top of her and she felt him pressed, hot and hard and naked, against the lace of her panties; yes she could handle him.

Then she could hardly think at all as his hands were everywhere on her body, making her shudder and shiver in pleasure. She felt the lust pool between her thighs as his lips traced from her mouth down her throat to the valley between her breasts. When Spike shifted so his tongue rasped over her own hardened nipple, Winnie let out a little cry, her fingers digging into his shoulders.

'Oh, God, Mike, yes!'

Spike smiled against her breast, shifted to give its mate equal attention. The way her short, neat fingernails bit into his skin only made him feel closer to her, more in tune with her needs. He knew he had his own breaking point, but he also knew that he had one clear goal in mind; hearing his girlfriend moan his name with such passion told him he was on the right path.

'Winnie,' he sighed, 'tell me what you want.'

'Huh?'

'What do you want me to do to you?'

Had it been anyone else, Winnie would have snapped back that he should know what she wanted by that point, but this was different - this was Spike, and she knew he wanted her to be vocal with him. Winnie had discovered that she loved to be loud in bed with him, something she'd never thought she could be without being teased by her bed-partner. Not only did he bring that out in her but she enjoyed it, too, giving back a little of that bossiness he'd seduced her with.

'I want...' Winnie trailed off, brought his lips up to hers, then whispered in her lover's ear, 'Michelangelo, I want to come for you, with your tongue between my thighs.'

Spike responded by kissing her, then trailing his mouth down her body until he reached the hem of her so-called panties. Knowing she'd love the naughty feeling it gave her, he dragged them down her hips with his teeth. When they landed somewhere on the floor, he circled her ankle with his hand, and began kissing his way up her leg, passing over her knee and up her thigh until he reached her honeypot and began to delicately kiss the flesh he found there, slick with lust for him and him alone.

Winnie moaned loudly, her head thumping back against the bed even as her back arched. God he was good at this, so good at making her feel so sexy, so desperate with need for him. Her fingers found their way to the back of his head as he dipped and swirled, licking, even sucking lightly at her trigger. She swore lightly as her hips ground a rhythm just for the two of them, felt the pleasure build up inside. Then her world shattered into a thousand psychedelic pieces when she felt him slip two fingers between her thighs to part her heated lips and drive his tongue inside her.

Spike's head swam at the sound Winnie made as the orgasm tumbled through her system like an avalanche. The urge to move up and simply bury himself inside her was impossible to ignore now, but he would protect them both; that was as important to him as the romance of the moment. He kissed the inside of her thigh, her hip before moving back up her body to look her in the eyes.

'Winona,' he murmured, kissing her gently.

'Michelangelo.' She put her palm to his cheek. 'Do you have-'

'Yes, for real this time.'

Winnie laughed lightly, then saw him reach under the pillow and he produced a condom, the same kind she'd kept in her own bedside table drawer. Before he could tear open the foil, she caught his wrist. 'Michelangelo, let me.'

Spike could only nod, positioned himself so his ass rested on his heels, and he bumped his forehead against hers as he felt her fingers delicately roll on the latex. He watched her move back, laying against the silk sheets, eyes heavy and face soft. He moved forward, positioning himself over top of her, then sank himself inside his beautiful Winnie.

Winnie sucked in a breath of anticipation as she felt Spike slip inside her. Her mouth fell open as she took him in, all of him and felt him begin to move; she moved with him, the sensation unlike anything she'd ever felt during sex before. _Maybe because you know this isn't just sex_, a little voice in her mind told her. She wrapped her arms around him to keep him as close to her as she could, the delicious friction they created push her closer and closer to the edge, each cry of his name from her lips making him feel like a god.

Spike watched her face, the way her lips formed a perfect little O as he entered her, the way she gasped with every thrust he gave her. He'd never been a selfish lover, but he'd never remembered a time when he'd been so selfless either. _Perhaps because you knew that it was just making love with Winnie, but making love to her, too,_ something in his brain reminded him. He felt her go tense beneath him, her breath catch and hold, as she clenched around him and began to shudder as she came; when she drifted in the after-shocks, Spike drove her up again, and he felt the orgasm burst through her once more.

Winnie kept her eyes open the second time, for now she knew what to expect and when she felt him begin to tremble and shake as he neared his own climax, she locked her legs around his hips, and moaned in his ear, 'Come for me, Michelangelo.'

Unable to disobey Winnie's simple, sweet request, Spike closed his eyes; he turned his face to her throat to breathe deep the scent of her skin and let himself fly.

Equally spent, they lay tangled together on the bed, neither one saying a word. For some it would have been perceived as an awkward silence, but for Winnie and Spike, it was unnecessary to put into words to the other what they felt in that moment. Instead, they just stayed together, fingertips passing over skin dewy with the clean sweat of good sex.

After what seemed an eternity, Winnie finally spoke. 'Spike?' she murmured softly.

'Mmm.'

'Mike,' she tried again, and felt him snuggle against her breasts.

'Mmm.'

'Shouldn't you be worried?'

'Mmmm? 'Bout what?'

'About any little Mikeys escaping the holding tank?' Winnie pointed downward between their bodies. 'Isn't that the point of wearing a condom?'

'Oh right.' With what he considered a monumental effort, Spike levered himself up, disposed of the used condom into the waste-basket beside his bed, then went to the bathroom to clean himself up. While there, he looked at himself in the mirror briefly, studied his face. No, he looked no different, so why did it feel like this moment was inexplicably a turning point in his life?

He wandered back to the bedroom, saw the sexy naked woman lying there, now modestly covered with the silk sheets he'd bought just for them. That was why, he realized, the fact it wasn't just any woman in his bed tonight, it was Winnie. Rounding the foot of the bed, he crawled in beside her, looped his arm around her to hold her close. He felt his blood nearly still in his veins when he caught the sheen of tears on Winnie's cheeks.

'Hey,' he said to her softly. 'Hey, what's all this?'

'Mike, I...I don't know what this is, I was just lying here thinking...' Winnie trailed off, unsure of how to put it into words. 'I've never been romanced like this, and...you overwhelm me in the best sense of the word. I can't believe you went to all this trouble just for me.'

'Because you're my beautiful Winona, and you -us - what we have together is totally worth this trouble. Besides.' Spike shifted, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. 'I'm your boyfriend, it's my right to spoil you rotten.'

'Same goes, but...I feel like it's you whose been doing all the romancing.'

'Now that's not true at all. Who's the one who surprised me with beer and wings after a long night on a drug raid? Whose the one who gave me a blowjob in the shower after a frustrating day in court, even when I was convinced I wasn't in the mood for sex and you proved me wrong?'

'I don't know if I'd call that romance-'

'Who's the one who kept my mother talking on Skype while I washed the blood off my hands when I was home after shift, when I couldn't clear all the civilians at a bomb call in time? Who's the one who, after that same bomb call, rubbed my back down with coconut oil and then held onto me when I had that same damn nightmare?'

'Me,' Winnie said with a sheepish little smile. 'Alright, I suppose we are both romantic, you're just a little more...traditional in how you express it.'

'Blame it on being Italian. And speaking of which...' Spike gave her a kiss, then scooted out of bed. 'Wait right here.'

Winnie nodded, watching him leave the room naked before flopping back on the silk sheets and giggling like a loon. Oh, wow, was all she could think. Wow, wow, wow; she'd never had a first-time, or any-time come to that, with a boyfriend or any other type of bed-partner. But then, none of them had been Michelangelo Scarlatti, who was so handsome, so loving, so generous in more ways than one. Had she known that was what she'd been waiting for with him, Winnie had to wonder if she'd have waited so long. Yes, she decided, answering her own question. Yes, because the wait made them appreciate the gifts of the other one all the more.

She lifted her head when she heard him come back up the stairs, then shifted to sit up properly when she saw what he had in his hands - a bottle of champagne, two glasses, and the boxed-up tiramisu from dinner along with two spoons.

'Champagne now or in a moment?' she asked him.

'In a moment. Something I must do first.' Spike flipped open the lid of the dessert box, dabbed a little of the cream onto his fingertip. 'Lie back.'

'Bossy again, I like it.' Winnie complied, giggling when she felt the sweet creaminess hit her belly. It was quickly followed up by Spike's tongue, and her giggles turned to full on laughs.

'I told you I was going to use you for my dessert bowl tonight,' Spike winked at her, then offered up a spoon. 'Choose your weapon, milady.'


	27. Let It Be I

The following morning, Winnie awoke to the feeling of Spike's lips on her shoulder, moving up her neck. The feel of it made her laugh low in her throat.

'Three times last night and you're ready for more already?' she murmured, blinking the sleep clear from her eyes until the first thing she saw was his beautiful brown eyes.

'I'm always ready for more you.'

Turning so she was laying underneath him, Winnie kissed him deeply as she felt her body shift, anticipating the delicious hour they would spend together like this. His stamina was almost as much of a turn-on as his body, his good sweet heart, the dimple that winked whenever he smiled. She ran her hands down his back, landing at his hips to pull him tight against her; Winnie heard him moan in frustration.

'Winona,' Spike said through his teeth, 'It's too soon for no condom.'

'I know,' she replied, nibbling his earlobe, enjoying the way he swore ripely. 'But it's not too soon for a morning quickie, is it?'

'Not at all.'

'Good, because this...' Winona traced her lips along his jaw. 'Is just meant to get you in the mood, and it feels like its working.'

Spike laughed, kissing her as he fumbled at the bedside table drawer for a condom. There was none of the finesse from the night before, this was all about the need for now. Within seconds he'd ripped open the packet, rolled on the latex and was driving himself deep inside Winnie. She sounded so good, so utterly pleasured by him that he didn't bother trying to control himself and just let his unyielding need to be with her take over. When he felt her shudder with orgasm, he was right there with her, moaning her name over and over until he couldn't think anymore.

'Well...' Winnie's tone was lazy and satisfied as a catnap in the afternoon sunshine. 'That's definitely a good appetizer for breakfast.'

'I was thinking why don't we go out for a run, maybe down to your place, and we can grab a shower then spend the day on the water? Maybe take a trip over to Centre Island?'

'That sounds great.' Winnie kissed him, almost sad when he popped up to deal with the condom. She lifted her hand above her head, smiling a satisfied little smile, then blinked and sat up when Spike came back from the bathroom, holding up his phone. 'You little brat, you just took a sex picture of me, didn't you?'

'Yep, I sure did. But here's the thing.' Spike set his phone back on the bureau. 'That asshole that you were with, he didn't care about you at all. Otherwise he'd never have pulled the shit that he did.'

'I trust you with every fibre of my being. There's a reason we don't talk about that, it's because we don't need to.'

'Exactly. So you know that when I want a picture of my girlfriend naked and hot, and still a little dazed from me being inside her, you know it's not to eventually use it against you. It's for the lonely nights when I wish you were with me and aren't, for whatever logical reason.'

Winnie knew he was exactly right, which made her feel a little bit slimy. 'You're right, Mike. I...I guess it's just one of those reflexes, you know? Like you smell marijuana smoke and think of marshmellows.'

'Really?'

'University camping trip, don't ask.'

'Oh, I think there's a story there,' Spike laughed, turned to find workout clothes. 'How about when I hear the Great Big Sea cover of the R.E.M. song End of the World and I think of my last ride in the truck with Lou?'

Now it was Winnie's turn, only her tone wasn't teasing; it was gentle. 'Really?'

'Yeah, Lou favourite bands were R.E.M. and Great Big Sea, so that was his favourite song, and on the way to the Globomax construction site that was playing on the radio.'

'Oh, the tragic irony.' She paused. 'That sounded far less sarcastic in my head.'

'It didn't sound sarcastic, Winnie,' Spike assured her. 'I deal with Ed and Leah on a regular basis, I know sarcastic. You just sounded sad for me, and that's not gonna fly right now. So, suit-up, and we'll go on a little sprint to your house.'

'Mike, all my date night stuff is here, my purse, my clothes from work are in your truck,' she reminded him.

'Oh ye of little faith. A bomb guy always has a plan, and we won't be without our gear for work tomorrow.'

'I always have faith in your plans, and...oh man, come on!'

Winnie flopped back against the pillows in frustration when Spike's phone went off. 'Seriously? You're getting called in?'

'Let's find out.' Spike answered his phone, cleared the remnants of morning sex out of his throat. 'Scarlatti.'

'Hey, Spike, listen I know it's your day off but we need your girlfriend here,' Sam told him with a note of sincere apology in her voice.

'Winnie? Why not call her?'

'It's kinda off the books.'

'Off the books.'

'It's Jules, she's...' Sam trailed off on a sigh. 'She's having some kind of hormonal thing and she won't listen to any of us, she said, call Winnie, I wanna see her. So...'

'Again, why didn't you call Winnie?'

'You were first in my phone book, alright?'

He sounded, to Spike's way of thinking, exactly how a first-time daddy-to-be should sound - pretending to be cool for the sake of his bride while panicking like a little chicken-fish inside. 'Alright, I'll see if she can swing it.'

'What's up?' Winnie asked, sliding out of bed to get a towel; something in Spike's tone told her that they wouldn't be enjoying their day off together, or at least the start of it.

'It's Jules, ah, apparently she's having a bit of a hormonal flip-out and wants to see you.'

'Me? Why me? I've never had a baby.'

'Neither has she.'

'Exactly, why not talk to Sophie or someone with more experience?'

Spike had to laugh a little; it was rare for Winnie to sound flustered - even when she'd gone on calls with them when Jules and Sam had been away, she'd been cool as a frosty margarita. Maybe it was part of the feeling of being included on the team she was still coming to terms with. God knew Spike had certainly had those moments himself, especially after the nonsense with Natalie had been concluded.

He watched her reach past him for a towel, head to his shower, and Spike took the call off of hold. 'Sam, she's just grabbing a shower and we'll be over soon.'

'Thanks.'

* * *

'You think they'll make a big deal that we finally had sex?'

'Not out loud, but you know they'll know.'

'The way they acted like goofy parents sending the teenagers off to prom before our date last night? Of course they'll know.'

Spike parked the truck, gave Winnie's hand a little pat. 'Think I should park and come in, or maybe do a coffee run, give Jules a little space?'

'I think they'd all like a fresh brewed Timmy's.'

Spike leaned over, gave her a kiss before Winnie popped out and strolled into the station. She caught sight of Syd on the desk, who shot her a sympathetic look. 'Hey Winnie, you get called in?'

'In a manner of speaking. You seen Team One around here?'

'Yeah, they were in the weight room, and then the guys went to the briefing room, locked down in there. Jules and Leah are both in the locker room, I think.'

'Okay. Any chance of me getting in to talk to them?'

'Unlikely, they were looking pretty grim about something.'

Winnie felt a little dagger of fear stab in her belly; without a second thought she took out her phone and texted Sam - _knock knock, I'm at the desk with Syd_. Moments later, the steel roll-down door of the briefing room lifted and Winnie saw all the guys there in their workout gear, even Wordy to her surprise. All looked a little shell-shocked, and Sam's face was a little bit ashen.

'Guys, what's up?' she asked neutrally, unsure of how to react when she entered the briefing room and the door rolled back down to give them absolute privacy.

'Jules is having a serious freakout about tomorrow,' Ed explained. 'She has to fly out to Medicine Hat to see her dad and her brothers. They want to see her before she's too far along to fly safely and give her a family-only baby shower.'

'Okay. What does that have to do with me?'

'I mentioned that it was great timing on her part, because we're all going out dancing for my birthday tomorrow night and that way she wouldn't feel left out,' Wordy added, looking guilty as all hell. 'That's when she kinda lost her pregnant little marbles.'

'Oh boy. Okay, I think see where this is going.'

'I don't know what to do.' Sam tried to stay calm, but Winnie could tell he was close to losing his mind out of sheer frustration. 'Leah texted me, said she's just crying buckets and wants to talk to you.'

'Alright. I'll try my best.'

Winnie turned and Ed hit the button for elevating the door, letting her head to the locker room. She'd barely opened the door before she was hit with the sound of quiet sobs, Leah's voice calling out.

'Yes, can I help you?'

'It's me, Leah, it's Winnie.'

'Oh _bon Dieu_, Winnie.' Leah zipped over, gave her a quick hug of greeting. 'I don't know what to do, she just...I think the tears are done and then they start up again.'

'Okay.' Winnie left her purse on the stairs, knowing that no-one would touch it and moved towards the benches where their lockers were located in the room. She kept her footfalls light, like she was approaching a wounded animal, until she had Jules in her sights; when she did, her heart gave a nasty squelch. Jules was slumped over as far as her belly would let her be, shoulders shaking from her emotions pouring out and face buried in her hands. 'Hey Constable, what's the deal?'

Jules' head shot up like a deer hearing the crack of a branch in the woods, then relaxed when she saw Winnie. Her cheeks were stained with tears, her eyes red and puffy. 'Oh, hi Winnie. I'm s-sorry to interrupt your day with your boyfriend.'

'He understands, he's very handy that way.' Winnie sat down beside Jules. 'So...Schneiermann pitched a great game last night, according to Canoe Sports. He had three strikeouts and only allowed one run over six innings.'

'Baseball, Winnie? Really?'

'First rule of negotiation, don't agitate the subject by pushing them too far right away. Baseball is my comfort zone, my dad said it made him feel really accepted when he first moved here from Aruba.'

'Aruba?'

'Well, back when Aruba was part of the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean. He came here when he was about twelve. It was him, his twin brother, his parents so my omi and opa, and my dad's cousin who lived with them because he'd been orphaned. The first thing my dad did when they got settled was ask to join a baseball team because he wanted to fit in.'

'That's cute.'

'Are you nervous about seeing your dad, that you'll just be reminded about how much you miss your mom?' Winnie ventured, felt the first stone laid on the path to success when Jules bobbed her head.

'Sam's family are great but they are a military family. I'm fairly certain the most emotion the Colonel's ever seen from his son was when we exchanged wedding vows.' Jules swiped at her eyes with the tips of her index fingers. 'There are so many questions I have and Sophie is great but...I need my mom, and I don't have her.'

'Oh, sweetie.' Winnie's own eyes welled up; she looped her arm around her friend's shoulders. 'Jules, you can share my Rachel with me.'

'What?'

'You can share my Rachel with me,' Winnie repeated, amazed how innocently helpful she sounded

'Who's that?'

'My stepmom. My bio-mom, she...we don't get along so well, too much of a personality clash plus the fact that I sided with my dad when they split up. Rachel came on the scene, into my dad's life and she rocks. I bet if I told her that my friend, another cop, needs someone to talk to she'd listen.'

'Maybe.'

'I also get the feeling that this isn't just about not having your mom around,' she went on, and Jules nodded again, hiccuping as she answered.

'My st-stupi-id husband seems just a little too hap-py to get away from his pregnant tub o-of a wife to go out dancing for Wordy's birthday. And he's hot, women are gonna be all over him!'

'Okay, Jules, what's the worst that could happen?'

'That he'll meet some sweet skinny little skirt, he'll fuck her out of pure relief and wishful thinking, and be thinking of how much he misses the way I used to look the entire time. Then when I get home, he won't even have the decency to tell m-me beca-ause he knows how hormonal I am and just wants to keep me calm.'

'Now that is the crazy-bitch preggo hormones. Sam loves you, Jules.'

Jules sniffled, trying to clear her airways. 'What happens if I can't get the baby weight off?'

'Did Ed leave Sophie because she's struggled getting off the pounds from having Issy?'

'No, but...but they're Ed and Sophie, they've been together for like nineteen years.'

'So? They had to start somewhere, too.'

Jules heaved a sigh, trying to sort through everything running through her mind. 'Sam and I split up, my doing because I was worried about my job. What if...what if he sees this as an out for him?'

'Jules, I doubt he'd have married you if he wanted out. He'd have said the little one-' Winnie poked her friend's belly '-will see his or her daddy as often as you'd permit but he didn't wanna be tied down.'

'No, he wouldn't do that. Sam loves me and he'd never hurt me.'

'Finally she makes sense. Jules, trust me, I'm the child of people who got married because of pregnancy and divorced because they should never have been married in the first place. I cannot see people who look at you the way you and Sam do ending up like my dad and bio-mom did.'

'Or you and Spike,' Jules added, her hiccups subsiding. 'God, Winnie, the way he looks at you is just like Rocky and Adrian.'

'Rocky and Adrian? As in Balboa?'

'Uh-huh.' She nodded, took the tissue Winnie had grabbed from the box on the locker room sink. 'She's trying not to be shy and he's trying not to be clumsy. It's so romantic.'

'You and Sam look at each other like that too, which is why I know when we go out tomorrow for Wordy's birthday, any woman Sam talks to is gonna be in for disappointment, including you.'

'Why me?'

'Because you'll be far away and missing spending the night without him,' Winnie pointed out. 'That won't be fun, will it?'

'No.' Jules shook her head. 'I...I feel so ridiculous.'

'I believe there is a little truth of what you said though.'

'What part?'

'The part where he just needs to get out, you know? It doesn't mean he loves you any less, it just means he needs a change of pace. Besides, you know that when he's out, he'll be with Wordy and Shelley, me and Mike, Ed and Sophie he'll just be a big whiny ball of 'how come my woman isn't here too' and more than likely, he'll also be very thankful he's got someone to miss instead of fighting the Friday night hook-up crowd.'

When Jules laughed, Winnie felt the glow of accomplishment in her heart. 'Seriously, you know how he gets when he whines, tell me I'm wrong.'

'Oh, God, he is such a child! The man did two tours of Afghanistan, he's been with SRU for almost five, and when he has a blister rub raw on his heel from new boots the world is ending.'

'Exactly. That is gonna be some of my Friday night tomorrow, so in a way, if anything you should be relieved you get a night away from that.'

'Winona, you are the best.' Jules gave another laugh, hugged her friend tightly. 'I owe you one.'

'Friends don't keep score Jules.'

'Okay, let me try again. Next time you feel freaked out in your relationship, gimme a shout and we'll talk.'

'Deal.'


	28. Save the Last Dance

Spike had been through many things in his life - being a bomb expert he'd taken his fair share of hits on both a physical and emotional level, and being a cop along with that, he was also adept at having relationships as well as friendships go south because they didn't understand the nature of his job.

So why was going out dancing for Wordy's birthday making him feel like he was a rookie facing his first day on the job?

'Because you can't dance for shit, you big fucking sissy-pants,' he told his reflection as he slapped on what his girlfriend lovingly referred to as his 'guido-esque' cologne. 'But you can handle this. This is going to be a fun night out. Just don't think that a few extra drinks will give you a few extra moves, big guy.'

He heard the sound of a car approaching his house, slow down near his driveway. Glancing at his watch, Spike saw it was indeed his own ride come to fetch him. He grinned when he opened the door, saw Wordy wasn't just there to pick him up, but pick him up in style.

'Nice wheels, Officer Wordsworth!' he called out as he whistled at the nineteen-seventy-two Sting-Ray drop-top with its shining chrome and glass and slick Pacific-blue paint job. 'Who'd you have to maim for this?'

'The rental is part of my gift from Shelley,' Wordy replied, slapping palms with Spike when he hopped in the passenger seat. 'She and Sophie are dropping the kids off with our sitter, so we don't have to have them hen-peck you over you and Winnie finally doing the dance with no pants.'

'Why the fuck is everyone so obsessed with my sex life?' Spike blurted out, then hummed when Wordy turned over the engine and it purred like a panther happy from the hunt. 'I lo- I really like Winnie, she means something to me, doesn't it make sense we'd have waited to show each other some respect?'

'Of course it does, because you _love_ her,' Wordy teased him, shifting into first gear. 'On top of which, you reacting like this just makes you a pinata of good times.'

'A pinata?'

'You just keep on giving every time we poke you with a stick. Now that you're actually poking Winnie with your stick, you'll be a little less edgy, too, I do believe.'

'I'm notpoking Winnie with my stick, we have sex.'

Wordy rolled his eyes; clearly Spike was gonna make this harder on himself than necessary. 'Dude, everyone knows that all couples have three grades of intercourse - making love, sex, and fucking. That's a given.'

'I know that, and you're making it sound like she's tolerating it from me. I can assure you, she likes it quite a bit.'

'Alright, alright, point made. New topic.'

'Why of all things do you wanna go out dancing for your birthday?' Spike asked as they turned south on Beverly to head to the Entertainment District. 'Part of your ongoing PT for the PD?'

'Yeah, and combined with this new clinical trial drug my doc's mixed with the Levodopa, I'm feeling a lot better than I have in a long time. Plus, Shelley loves having date night at a dance class twice a week.'

'Twice a week?'

Wordy nodded, breaking for a red light. 'Latin on Mondays, classic ballroom on Thursdays. My teacher, his wife has Parkinson's and you should see the way she moves.'

Spike grinned. It was so awesome to see Wordy this jovial, especially since it was his birthday, sounding like the guy who'd been with him for four years since Spike had been a rookie at the SRU. 'And you wanna go out on your birthday and show off all your sweet moves, huh?'

'You bet. Plus it's fun to get out of the house to do something that isn't related to my neuro-degenerative disease. Doctor's appointments are not a favourite past-time and mine is a right pain in the ass. In a good way mind you, but at the same time, it's irritating to be that guy, you know?'

'Yeah, I do. I'm that guy too, the way everyone pokes at me over Winnie,' Spike reminded him and Wordy laughed heartily.

'Oh, man I miss you, Spike.'

'You should come around more. In fact, I was thinking of having a barbecue thing in a few weeks with Winnie for her brother.'

'I didn't know Winnie had a brother.'

'He's from her dad's second marriage,' Spike explained, 'and she told me how she's doing this Terry Fox 5 kilometre run with him at his school, and I figured we all might be able to sponsor Aaron, that's Winnie's brother, and since he's fourteen, we might do it on a weekend when Clarke and Dean are around to make him feel, I dunno, welcome I guess.'

'Sounds good to me, bro. Plus Carolina is twelve now so she'll be right in that boy-band crush on an older boy phase and that should boost his ego.'

'Cari is twelve? Wow, where did that time go?' Spike shook his head. 'Seems like yesterday we were giving you hell in the station gym about braiding your three-year-old's hair while watching _Lady in Waiting_ with her.'

'Ali is seven now and Gracie is gonna be nine on her first day back to school.'

'Wow.'

Wordy wanted to press the subject, tease Spike about whether or not he and Winnie had had the kid-talk yet but he knew it would push their banter from the funny category to the annoyingly intrusive one so he let it slide for the moment. Instead, he switched on the radio, found the classic rock station. 'Think there's gonna be a line-up at the club?'

'Where are we even going anyways?'

'XS on Richmond, they're having a Latin dance night tonight so it's gonna be great. We've already got our own VIP table set up too, thanks to my rock-star of a wife.'

'Sweet.'

Though Wordy kept the conversation light, Spike couldn't help feel the pit of his stomach sink the closer they got to downtown - he knew he was truly an awful dancer but he usually got by most times with a bottle of beer, some light shoulder swaying and the white-man's overbite. Or in his case the Italian man's overbite which wasn't too hard to accomplish since he did indeed have a rather pronounced natural overbite no amount of retainers and headgear had been able to fix. Now faced with the inevitability that he would have to dance proper he wanted to find a bottle of tequila that, once he'd drank it all, would contain a magical genie that would make him a better dancer than Fred Astaire and Danny Kaye combined.

When they drove up to the club, Spike could see Wordy had called it right - there was indeed a line-up but because Shelley worked her magic, they were able to not only pull up in front of everyone and hand their keys to the valet but they walked right up to the doorman, pointed out Wordy's name on the list and were admitted past the actual red velvet rope into the club. Once inside, the sinking feeling came back a hundred fold when Spike saw the red and yellow spotlights moving over the bodies gyrating on the dance-floor in time to the music. They moved without the seemingly slightest bit of effort, the men in their spiffy dress shirts and polished shoes, the women in their floaty dresses that showed off gorgeous bodies of all curves and angles.

What the fuck was he going to do when Winnie asked him to dance and he looked like a fourth-grader at his first boy-girl party?

'Spike, it's not a terrorist attack, it's just a few dance moves,' Wordy hollered over the music, then slapped his shoulder. 'Come on, this way.'

Spike followed his friend to the hostess podium, watched him speak to her in her ear and the woman, dressed in tight black with silver and red accents, led them to the far side of the dance-floor, just two booths away from the DJ. His nerves frayed further when he caught sight of Winnie, looking like a million dollars in her clubbing dress. Iit wasn't red or black, or even floral like some of the other women had chosen but a seductive sapphire blue, with thin spaghetti straps on top with the scooped neckline and the skirt ending mid-thigh so it showed off her long sexy legs.

She was laughing about something with Sophie, Shelley and Leah, while Sam and Ed had a conversation of their own, and for a moment Spike wondered how the hell he'd gotten so lucky that he could call her his girlfriend, his lover. In the middle of her laugh, he saw her do a double take, uncross her legs and stand up to bounce over into his arms in greeting and plant a hot kiss on his mouth; he could taste the vague traces of raspberry liquer on her lips.

'There's my man,' she managed to purr at him despite the noise level of the music. 'You look so hot, Mike.'

'You look so hot right back, Winnie,' he replied, and Winnie did a little twirl in her high heels.

'You think so?'

'Very much so.'

'Hooray and later...' Winnie trailed off, whisper-shouting in his ear, 'you'll get to see what I don't have on underneath.'

'Hot.'

'You want a drink?'

Winnie laced her fingers through his, dragged him over to have a seat where Spike could see they'd had a platter of test-tube shots along with champagne and a bottle of soft cider both chilling on ice. The test-tubes caught Spike attention the most - there were neon green ones that appeared to glow in the dark, other green somethings that were not quite so bright, something purple, something blue, something red, and something that looked like Coke.

'What the hell are those?' he asked, pointed to the tubes. 'I'm more of a beer and grappa guy, so hard-liquor occasionally goes over my head.'

'Those-' she pointed to the bright green ones 'are Bad Apples, apple vodka, green sour-puss, those are Cookie Monsters-' she pointed next to the blue ones '-which are blue curacao, peppermint schnapps and creme de cacao, the purple ones are Swedish berries, then those are Jagr Bombs, Red-Headed Sluts, and my favourites, Beetlejuice.'

'Those have been treating you well, huh?'

'Raspberry sour-puss, tequila, and pineapple juice with a dash of melon liqueur for colour. I've had four already.'

'Four, and you're planning on dancing in those neck-breakers?' Spike teased her, pointing at her three inch high-heels.

'Yep. Don't worry, Mike, if push comes to shove, I'll be like them!'

She pointed and Spike followed her finger out to the dance floor, where he saw more than one woman dancing in her bare feet, apparently oblivious to the potential for broken toes or broken glass from a dropped drink. 'Just don't hurt yourself, okay?'

'Relax, Spike-elangelo!' Ed, who also appeared to have gotten into the shots a little bit already too, had moved over so he could sit with his friend from the force. 'Thank God you and Wordy got here, Sam's been bitchy as a bulldog with PMS about Jules being out of town. I'd rather listen to you two lovebirds google at each other than another second of him.'

'Be sure to tell Jules that when she gets back,' Winnie replied, then let out a happy little cheer when she heard the open strains of Angela Via's _Baila Baila_. 'Oo oo oo, I live this one! Come on, let's go!'

Before Spike could stammer out a response, she grabbed his hand and was dragging him out onto the dance floor. He swallowed as Winnie put her hands on his shoulders, began to step and sway her hips in time to the music. No matter how hard he tried, Spike couldn't bring himself to keep from staring at his feet and feeling like such a clumsy idiot. Winnie must have sensed it, because she put her fingers under his chin to lift his gaze from his toes to her eyes.

'Spike, we're not competing here, not everyone is an expert,' she told him over the music. 'It's okay to miss a step or two.'

'Not to me,' he replied, his frustration growing by the second. 'Maybe a couple more drinks will give me some dancing feet.'

'Okay!' Winnie smiled at him, not liking for one moment the sullen look on his face. 'There's plenty of time for dancing tonight.'

Spike nodded, and the moment the song was over, he retreated back to the table for a couple of shots. Every time he watched Winnie move on the floor, skirts swirling as she twisted and moved with Sophie and Leah and Shelley, with Sam and Ed, he could feel jealousy of their moves oozing green as Vulcan blood in his veins and tried to drown it with equally green test-tube shots. An hour and a half later, when he returned from the men's room, he nearly lost his drunken mind.

Winnie was on the dance floor with Wordy, the rest of the gang cheering them on from their dance-floor adjacent VIP booth. He'd pressed himself up against Winnie's backside, his hands on her hips as they swiveled magnificently with the DJ's current selection. He saw the florid flush of Winnie's cheeks and immediately thought of when she'd trembled in his arms as they'd made love the night before. His brain immediately fired off a thousand and one nasty thoughts; when Wordy spun her around and Winnie smiled at him, Wordy smiling back, Spike had reached his limit.

'Tell my girlfriend I went to get some air and I'll talk to her later,' Spike hollered at Ed; without waiting to hear his friend's reply, Spike fought his way through the crowd to the exit. He'd been outside and trying to catch a cab home to sleep it off for maybe ten minutes or so when he heard Winnie behind him.

'Michelangelo Scarlatti, what the hell is the matter with you!'

It wasn't a question, more of an accusation. Wobbly from drinking too much, he turned to see Winnie glaring at him furiously, the same way she'd stared at him when they'd left the Boss in the hospital back in June. God she was sexy when she was angry, he thought. 'I'm saving you some embarrassment.'

'You're embarrassing yourself and making Wordy's birthday party about you, you chicken-head.'

'No, Wordy's birthday party is all about you and Wordy, and him getting his hands all over you.'

Winnie blinked; she knew he'd been drinking but she knew he wasn't drunk enough to actually believe that. 'What the fuck are you talking about?'

'Don't act like you didn't like it, Winnie,' Spike spat. 'I know you, I know your face, when you are enjoying something and when you're really hot for something.'

'You know what I was thinking about when I was dancing with Wordy, whose _wife_ was sitting fifteen frickin' feet away from you? I was fantasizing about you, what it'd be like if you would have just gotten over yourself instead of being such a fucking child tonight!'

Spike huffed out a breath. 'I-'

'I'm not done!' Winnie snapped, walking up to him and drilling her fingertip into his chest. 'Seriously, what did you think was gonna happen with Wordy, that we were gonna go sneak off for a quickie in the men's room then come back to you and Shelley and spend the rest of the night like nothing happened? Me and Wordy.'

Put like that, Spike had only one response - he cracked himself up in slightly sad, pathetic laughter as she put in such glaringly black and white terms. 'No, Jesus, Winnie. I just...I had this fantasy in my head that instead of you being all whatever about me being a shitty dancer, you'd try to actually teach me what to do.'

'I also know that when you get in a funk, it's best to let you ride it to the breaking point. Guess where we are.'

'Richmond Street?'

'Funny.' But WInnie could sense the edges softening and she moved closer, wrapped her arms around his waist. 'Spike, how the hell could you think-'

'I'm sorry.' Spike's brain couldn't get the words out of his mouth fast enough. 'I was an asshole and I'm sorry.'

'Yes, you were and apology accepted. Besides, if you piss off now, there's no way for me to teach you a thing or two. If you promise two things.'

'I'll try.'

'One. You apologize to Wordy in that manly knuckle-dapping way you do for being a jerk.'

'A big jerk.'

'A big honking jerk,' Winnie agreed.

'Done.'

'And two...' She trailed off, pulled him in for a kiss. 'When we get home, we do a little horizontal mambo just for us.'


	29. Hello Goodbye

_Hey everyone! Glad to see my story getting some love! This ch is heavy on the cute factor so hold on to your hats and watch you don't break your 'n'awww' bones!_

* * *

'Scarlatti, big plans since we're actually done on time tonight?'

Spike stroked on Speed-Stick, glanced over to see Sam standing beside him looking slightly bedraggled. He hadn't recalled Ed looking so stressed out when Sophie had been pregnant but then again, Issy was the second child and Ed had had bigger problems to worry about, like the very real possibility that Sophie wasn't coming back to him after the birth. Sam was just anxious, and as Spike's little lady was just starting her shift when they'd returned from patrol, he knew he was wide open to take care of his buddy.

'Not a one, Sam-Tastic, unless you count doing my laundry like a big boy and hitting up Zehrs to shop for the barbecue tomorrow a big deal.'

'Can I come with you?'

Sam asked it with such unmistakeable eagerness that Spike felt a stir of pity for the guy. He braced his hand on his locker door, leaned against it so it swung open. 'Jules giving you problems?'

'Not exactly, I just...' Sam sighed, sat down on the bench. He braced his elbows on his thighs, tilted his head so his thumbs pressed against his closed eyelids. 'I love my wife but I need a night off.'

'Of course you do. Between your job and taking care of Jules, there hasn't been a lot of time for you. So.' Spike moved over, clapped Sam's shoulder.

'How can I just tell Jules, sorry babe you're on your own tonight? Doesn't that make me a bad husband?'

'I doubt it.'

'How would you know? You don't even have the balls to tell Winnie you love her,' Sam snapped; though it was a neatly aimed arrow that punctured Spike's pride, he simply tugged on his t-shirt and shrugged.

'I know how I feel about her. I know how she feels about me. That's enough for right now. And tonight is escape from the women night for us, so just try to give your brain a break, alright? I'll pick you up around six.'

'Alright.'

As Sam sounded about as excited to hear he was being forcibly given a man-waxing, Spike closed his locker and put his hands on his friends shoulder. 'Dude, relax. You are being an awesome man for Jules, and you both know that. Stop being such a sissy. You're allowed to have some time for yourself.'

Spike stuffed his arms into his hoodie sleeves, tugged up on the zipper. 'Better yet, if you feel that guilty, why not get a few things for your baby-mama that she would like as a surprise?'

'Ice cream. She cannot get enough, oh and crunchy things.'

'Crunchy things?'

'Carrots, celery, tortilla chips, pretzels whatever. Oh and fish and chips. Not the greasy fried kind, like, Highliner fish and McCain fries baked in the oven so she doesn't have all that extra salt you get when-'

'I get it, buddy,' Spike laughed, then took out his phone to text Winnie - _leaving the locker room now, and thinking about getting you naked tomorrow night after all our guests leave. xx._ He'd be able to tell when he left the locker room and saw her sitting at the dispatcher's desk if she'd read the note yet or not. 'Okay, go face the preggo music, and I'll see you later.'

Spike left the locker room, saw Winnie was on a call with Team Two so he lifted his hand in a wave; she caught his eye and nodded with a little wink at him that made Spike's heart flip-flop in his chest. He made it to his truck in the parking lot when he heard the chipr of his phone with an incoming text message. He grinned, his ego getting all pumped up when he read Winnie's reply.

_I'll think of you when I'm getting naked in the shower tomorrow morning - care to join me?_

As they'd already planned that Winnie was going to his place straight after her shift to crash before the barbecue, Spike typed back _always, sexy mama. You look yummy when you're wet _knowing it would make her steam and miss him all the more, and because Spike loved to make his cool-and-collected Constable Camden all flushed and flustered whenever he could. Even better was when he knew he was doing so in the moments when she wanted him and couldn't have him, like when they were on shift together.

Satisfied, he turned on the engine of his truck, flipped on the music to discover that Winnie had left her stupid frickin' DeadMau5 CD in his player. It was tempting to chuck the disc out the window in the middle of Friday night rush-hour on the Gardiner but Spike knew that she'd have his head on a pike for that one so he switched it to Q107, the preset he'd given to Winnie. It was such a mystery to him - Winnie loved classic rock like ACDC, the Stones, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin and her beloved Beatles, even a few Def Lepperd and Motley Crue tracks thrown in for good measure. How the bloody hell could someone with such obvious good taste be equally in love with all that thoomp-thoomp-thoomp techno-shit?

More, how could he be in love with a woman who had the audacity to call that music?

Because it was Winnie, he thought with a laugh as he headed out of the parking lot.

* * *

'Well, it's official, Scarlatti, you are a domesticated man now. You are doing your laundry that includes your girlfriend's panties on a Friday night while she is at work.'

Spike looked at the laundry rack in his living room, studied the assortment of clothes on the line there - there was his work uniform clothes, a couple of dress shirts he preferred not to spin in the dryer, and about four pairs of Winnie's panties she left at his place on purpose just to drive him crazy. All were what Spike would have previously considered date-night type panties but having discovered that Winnie had a weakness for wearing sexy underthings on a daily basis, beneath her regular clothes, that theory had gone out the window.

'You know she does it because she likes watching you get steamed up too,' he muttered to himself, then hollered, 'It's open!' when he heard the knock on his front door.

'Wow, those are some nice undies, Scarlatti. Does Winnie know you shop at the same lingerie store?'

Spike glanced over, saw Sam looking just as tired as before but far less strung out. 'Yeah, and she wears it all. I thought I was picking you up?'

'I took the subway over, I wanted some fresh air. Jules got angry with me for feeling guilty about hanging with you tonight.'

'Really,' Spike replied drily.

'She, ah, told me to expect no sex tonight if I didn't get the fuck out of the house and let her have one night of blissful relaxation with no-one except the baby nagging her.'

'Dude-'

'Yeah, yeah I know I earned it. But thankfully, she doesn't know I'm going to spend my bro-time with you at the grocery store.' Sam sighed, scratched his head. 'Mike, I am freaking out here.'

'What was your first clue?'

'How am I gonna do this? How am I gonna be Officer Braddock and Daddy and still have time for Sam?'

Spike shrugged, put the last of his work shirts on the rack to dry. 'I have a feeling you'll be better at finding the balance than you think. Besides, it's not like you're alone in this, you've got Jules and all of us, you know.'

'Really, you think I'll still have time for nights like this when there is a baby at home?'

'You mean the kind where Jules wants some time for herself and kicks you out to do the same?'

Spike watched Sam fumble a bit before he started to laugh. 'Guess that's just about right, huh?'

'Quit bitching and go get my grocery bags from the pantry.'

* * *

To Spike's utter amazement, getting Sam out of the house and having him to focus on a task as mundane as picking up party food supplies was the perfect ticket to distract him from feeling like a guilty little slug. He knew he had his man when Sam gave the rather well-informed grocery list a stern look with a skeptical eye.

'Dude, you know that you're feeding Team One and not the whole SRU, right?'

'Well, let's go over the guest list.' Spike held up his fingers, began to count. 'Greg and Marina, Dean and Mira, Ed, Sophie, Clarke and Issy-'

'Clarke's not bringing a date?'

'No, said he doesn't wanna bring home some university girl to a family thing. Anyways, Leah and her date, Raf and his lady, Wordy and Shelley and Ali, Gracie and Cari, and you two plus me, Winnie, Aaron, Pietr and Rachel.'

'I stand corrected.' Sam leaned his forearms on the push-bar of the cart. 'What is on the menu, shopping-wise at least?'

'Well, Winnie's already got the burgers made and chilling in the fridge, and the chicken breasts are marinating, so we are getting veggie dogs, veggies and fruit for kebabs and salad and toppings, stuff for the baked brie and a couple of dips, and ingredients for this-' Spike held out the recipe for Winnie's cream cheese frosting '-so we can have this amazing cake that Sophie and Issy asked her to make.'

'Oh, the one from the cottage with the balsamic strawberries?'

'That's the one.'

'And Winnie is making all this herself?'

'Well, I'm gonna help her,' Spike said with an affable shrug. 'She's incredibly fierce about being able to keep up with Sophie in the kitchen, even though I keep trying to tell her that she is a great chef, and Sophie is also a professional caterer.'

'Female pride, dude.' Sam shook his head as they headed for the produce section to start. 'If there is a single piece of advice I can pass on to you as a newlywed with a pregnant wife, don't ever-ever-ever screw with female pride. You will pay dearly for it.'

'Jules giving you grief? I mean, beyond tonight?'

'I made the mistake of asking her if it was necessary to shave her legs since she was wearing her work uniform for the day anyways.'

'And?'

'Burst into tears.'

Spike whistled as he selected carrots, celery, a head each of cauliflower and broccoli. 'Hormones have got a grip on her, haven't they?'

'Yeah, well, look who I'm talking to,' Sam jibed him easily, 'the way you and Winnie move like adorable little turtles our son or daughter will be in university before we're welcoming your bundle of joy into the world.'

'Nah, maybe three, four years tops. Your little one can be a flower girl or ring-bearer at the wedding.'

Sam stopped dead in his tracks, blinking like an owl. He watched Spike casually wander up to the cold-case for coleslaw mix and salad dressing. He felt his mouth go cotton-dry, his jaw working up and down without a single noise coming out. When Spike returned, dropping items into

'Here I thought you were good at diffusing bombs, not dropping them on your friends' heads. Seriously?'

'Seriously what?'

'Seriously, you two just started sleeping together like what, two weeks ago and now you're talking about getting married?'

'I'm talking to _you_ about seeing my future with Winnie take that direction. I screwed up the first time asking her out, springing something on her neither of us was really ready to admit we wanted. I'm not gonna fuck this up with her again.'

Sam heard the steely tone in Spike's voice, couldn't blame him; he suddenly felt more than a little guilty about the shit they'd all given him over taking things slowly with his woman. 'Which is why knowing how she feels about you without saying it is enough for now.'

'Exactly. Man we really are domesticated,' Spike sighed, tugging on the front of the shopping cart to steer it towards the fruit aisles of the produce section.

'Huh?'

'Nothing, my own little joke. Hmm, mixed berries or straight up strawberries?'

'What did Winnie put on the list?' Sam asked, knowing it was his chance to turn Spike's own words back on him.

'Strawberries and blackberries.'

'Given what I just told you, don't you think it's a better idea to, y'know, do as the chef asks?'

'Good point.' Spike grabbed four pounds of strawberries, wrapped them in the light produce cello-bags. 'Winnie's pride is lethal when messed with.'

'My point.'

* * *

When Winnie dragged her gorgeous but sorry tired ass into Spike's house, she just wanted to collapse. She'd prayed for a slow night, a quiet night of patrols so she could file and photocopy to her heart's content, but no - both Teams Two and Five had to have hot calls that required her undivided attention.

'Seriously, just get a sack and put it ovr my head and make it be bedtime,' she sighed, unlocked the front door with the key Spike had given her. When she walked in, the scent of bacon wrapped around her senses like kudzu vines; along with it she could smell something fresh and sweet, and the scent of toasted French bread.

No, her droopy eyes weren't deceiving her - there was Spike in the middle of the kitchen in his gym shorts and black t-shirt, building something on a cutting board for breakfast. For a moment Winnie just stood there and watched him, the way he moved back and forth between the frying pan, the fridge, the counter was so much like him on the job. The movements were quick and precise, efficient with a little bit of kooky-Spike flare.

'Oh, man, she's gonna be here and she is not gonna wanna see the mess I made doing a nice thing for her.'

'Too late,' Winnie replied and had the satisfaction of watching her man jump a little before turning around to smile at her. 'Hi, baby.'

'Hello sleepy mama. How did you get home in one piece,' he inquired, noting how her eyes were nearly swollen shut from fatigue. 'Did Raf drive you home?'

'Yeah.'

'Wow, a one word answer. Maybe I should wrap this up, you can have it later?'

'No, no, you made it nice and hot and fresh for me. Is there juice?'

Spike nodded, gestured to the table and Winnie could see he really had gone all out for her after getting off work: he'd made her a BLT with the Monteray Jack cheese she loved so much, and set the table with fresh strawberries and a pitcher of orange juice.

'Oh, you're a saint. Saint Spiky-Mike.'

'Spiky-Mike.' If she was calling him that, it was highly likely Winnie couldn't even remember the colour of her own panties at the moment, Spike mused. 'You know, this'll keep, why don't we go upstairs and take care of those tired muscles?'

'Mmmm-, no. Hungry.'

'Okay.'

Still holding her hand, Spike took her over to the table; he pulled out her chair for her, poured her a glass of juice. He watched as she took a big bite of her sandwich, closing her eyes and moaning in delight, not unlike the way she did when he nibbled at her soft skin when they were in bed together. 'Oh, that's yummy, Mike. That's really really good.'

'How was your shift?'

'Mmm, long.' Winnie closed her eyes, took another bite as she propped her head on her hand while he chewed. 'Had hot calls for Two and Five.'

'Ooo, coffee's ready.' Spike jumped up, went to pour himself a cup. 'Busy night then?'

'Mmm-hmm?'

'What did Two have, I thought they were only on back up?'

'Mmm.'

'Winnie?' Spike turned around, and had to keep the laugh to himself this time - she'd nodded out after swallowing her bite of sandwich, and was about three seconds away from ending up face-first on her plate like a scene from _Clue_. Leaving his coffee on the counter, he went over and gently took took the sandwich out of her hand. 'Come on, Princess Winona, my sleeping beauty. Time for bed.'

When he only got an 'mmm' for a reply, Spike looped his arm under her knees, the other holding her beneath her shoulders and carried her upstairs to bed to get some rest. Only when he'd finished undressing her in the most clinical way he'd ever done, and she was in her bra and panties and wrapped in his summer-weight duvet did Winnie stir on a light groan.

'Mike, how'd I get here?'

'I carried you up You fell asleep mid-BLT, so I figured.

'But it's the barbecue today, we have so much to do!' Winnie protested.

'Sweetie, it's only eight in the morning, you can sleep until noon and then you can get up to boss me around like you like to do in the kitchen.'

'Oh. Okay.' With that, Winnie conked out again, and Spike went downstairs to wrap her breakfast up for when she'd be awake to actually enjoy it.


	30. Get This Party Started I

When Winnie awoke, she was at first happy that she'd been able to sleep after being so overtired. When she grabbed her phone off the night-stand - Spike had sweetly put it there after noticing she used it instead of a watch-alarm to tell the time when she woke - she moaned in frustration.

'Baby, why'd you let me sleep so long?'

With a sigh, she got out of bed, headed for the shower to freshen herself up and start getting ready for their party day. She used the time in the shower as she normally did, to ready herself with a mental game-plan for the day. Only today, instead of filing and colating, it was peppers and onions, and kebabs and dips and chips. She'd reached a detante with Spike that he would DJ the party from his stereo and she would get to have some input on the playlist. Winnie had to grin over that one - she'd given him her song choices, none of which included any of her beloved techno-tunes, and Spike had looked at her like she'd been replaced by a pod-person. She'd countered that assuming she loved various house remixes of popular songs was like assuming that people who ate meat only like to eat turkey.

Her stomach gave a low rumble as she remembered the fact that she had fallen asleep mid-sandwich, literally, and Spike had carried her up to bed. What a prince she had in him, she thought, though sometimes she had to wonder if just because she wasn't as outwardly gushing as he was that meant he thought he was more invested in this whole relationship thing than she was.

'Bullshit,' she told her brain, 'he knows you love him, so quit being a needy-greedy child.'

Over the spray of the shower, Winnie heard the creak of the bathroom door, called out. 'Spike?'

'Yeah, Win, what's up? Did you run out of shaving cream?'

'No, I was just thinking about the food this afternoon.'

'Not to worry, I helped.'

Winnie poked her head around the shower curtain, arched her eyebrows as Spike found the box of band-aids with butterflies on them. 'How butch of you,' she teased him. 'And how did you help?'

'Relax, my sexy chef, I didn't overstep, I just washed everything up for you, so you can peel slice and chop to your heart's content, and I will be your scut monkey as needed.'

Winnie smiled, gave her head a gentle jerk to the side. 'Wanna join me?'

'Like you read about, but...' Spike moved over, kissed her lips tenderly. 'I've got plans for that body after you're out of the shower.'

'Won't people be coming soon?'

'Yes, and the first one will be you.'

'Naughty boy.' Winnie grabbed his shirt pulled him in tight for a kiss, slipping her tongue over his lips. When she heard him sigh in delight, she pulled back to wink at him. 'Now let me finish getting clean. Then we can be dirty.'

She watched him walk away grinning, then ducked back behind the shower curtain to wash her hair and rub the bar of shea butter soap quickly over her body. Her man truly spiked - hahaha - in bed whenever she used that particular fragrance so she figured if he was making sex jokes like he'd just done, it was a good bet that he would view her using that soap as delicious payback.

When she stepped out of the shower with her hair wrung out and combed, then twisted back into a queue at the nape of her neck Winnie debated keeping the towel on or off when she went to find him. On, she decided, lest there already be someone here and the chance of sneaking in a quick one was already dashed. A pause on the landing between the bedroom and bathroom told her nope, they were still alone, so she let the towel slip to the floor and she went into the bedroom to her drawer, or at least what she'd commandeered as her drawer. She took out the bottle of body lotion that matched her soap and was rubbign it over her thighs, stomach, breasts when Spike came in.

'Wow.'

'I'm almost done with this.' Winnie glanced over her shoulder at him, smiled as she stroked on the last of her lotion. Turning back to the task at hand, she smiled a secretive, feminine smile when she heard the sound of Spike wrestling himself out of his t-shirt; she turned around to put the bottle on the bureau and saw he was already down to just his boxers and those only stayed on about two seconds. 'Mmm, hello Constable.'

'Hello Constable yourself.' Naked with her, Spike took her in his arms, kissed her deeply. 'You feel so good.'

'I feel pretty damn sexy right now,' Winnie replied, wondering if he knew how deep that truth ran - she'd never been one to think of making love in the middle of the day was something she'd be into, mostly because the men she'd dated were night creatures who wanted a quick roll before bedtime. She grinned even as he caught her lower lip lightly in his teeth, and tugged him close so they tumbled into the bed.

'Winona, I want you on top,' Spike groaned as she attached her lips to his throat, began to suck at him lightly.

'Okay, but- oh, mmm, you do that and I kinda forget things,' Winnie replied on a sigh when his thumb found her nipple and she felt the heat begin to flood between her thighs. 'Keep doing that.'

'You probably might like this better.' Spike lower his mouth to her other breast, began to lave at her.

She let out a low moan of pleasure, felt her legs move so they fell open for him. It felt so decadent, so downright naughty to be naked with him with the sunlight streaming in the window, every ounce of their bodies visible to each other. There was a part of her brain that suddenly saw herself outside her body, wondering if all the little things she couldn't stand when she looked in the mirror were just as awful as she usually saw them because Spike just saw all the things he liked. He saw her as a whole, not just a tally of pros and cons.

Then his tongue and thumb switched places and it was impossible to think at all. White hot light was running through her veins like a current on a wire, ending with his name bursting from her lips. 'Mike! God, Mike, that feels so good, so...good...'

Spike's reply was his own low moan of pleasure; his eyes darted up briefly to see Winnie lost inside what he was making her feel. Part of him wondered if he looked at sexy as she did in this moment, like there was nothing in the world except the two of them. He knew he was a good looking man but he knew that he struggled with keeping his weight in check for the team since he loved good food so much. More than once Sam and Lou and teasingly called him 'Zeppoli', the Italian word for 'doughnut'; what should have been a friendly sting and motivation to keep up his hard work had stuck with him. But all Winnie saw was him, a feeling he never wanted to leave ever.

'Winona, you want me to-'

'Michelangelo.' Winnie heard herself all but pant it out. 'I want you inside me.'

'Yes.'

Spike barely had the single word out before she locked those long, lush legs around him and rolled so she was on top, leaning forward for his pleasure; he pressed his face into her breasts as he heard her fumble for the drawer where he kept their condoms. He closed his eyes, heard her rip the foil and moments later she was rolling the latex on him.

'Michelangelo, open your eyes baby.'

He did so, and had the joy of watching her lower herself onto him, a popped little 'oh!' emerging from her lips. She looked at him with the dark eyes of a pagan goddess, her hips beginning to rock at a pace that nearly drove him out of his mind. Spike thumped his head back against the bed, his hands glued to Winnie's body as she sighed his name over and over again. Then, going purely on instinct, he rolled them so she was underneath him and he was unwrapping her legs from his hips.

'Winona, open yourself baby.'

Winnie knew what he meant, and let her legs fall away; she dug her fingertips into his back as he drove her up and up until she was all but screaming his name as the orgasm hit her like a tidal wave, threatening to drag her under. She arched her back, her head rolling back on her shoulders as she shuddered.

'Mike, I...I...'

She ended on a cry, and the sound was the last straw for Spike - with a final cry of his own, he empty himself into her, until he was drained of everything and had only the scent and feel and sight of Winnie inside his mind. When he collapsed on top of her, he groaned lightly, puckered his lips to kiss her cheek sweetly.

'Oh, that felt so good, Winnie,' he mumbled agianst her skin.

'Very good,' she replied with an agreement and improvement all in one. 'It felt good to be a bad girl.'

'A bad girl?'

Winnie nodded. 'When you grow up in a household with a female authority figure whose idea of the sex talk is 'good girls keep their knees together', there are certain things you just can't escape. Lunchtime quickies fall into the category of something good girls don't do.'

'You're a good girl and a _good_ girl,' Spike teased her, making her vibrate with laughter which only served to pump up his own ego more. He'd guessed it right - making love in the middle of the day with Winnie was about a thousand times better than his fantasies had dreamed it up for him. 'And you are an amazing chef who needs clothes to work in the kitchen around food being consumed by other people.'

'Oh?'

'Yeah, if it was just us, I'd say naked cooking is awesome but since we have people coming soon, you might want some kind of covering for your beautiful fun bits I like to play with.'

'That's so sweet, and so pervy all at once. That's why you rock.'

Winnie gave him one more kiss before he popped up to dispose of the condom. She give it about half a minute before she popped up to dress for the barbecue that afternoon, ensuring she picked some kind of ludicrously skimpy panties she knew would drive him wild when he got her naked again that night. A lot of times since their first time, Winnie had to remind herself that such good loving was totally worth the wait any time the voice in her brain asked her why they'd waited so long for that step in the first place.

Dressed in shorts and a ratty t-shirt, she headed downstairs to work on the veggies Spike had cleaned for her.

* * *

An hour an a half later, Winnie and Spike were still at work in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on the food for the barbecue. Or rather, Spike was transferring Winnie's homemade hummus into a bowl form the food processor while she finished off the BLT she'd begun to eat when she'd been so damn tired earlier.

'Did I really fall asleep mid bite?' she asked, chomping the last dregs of her sandwich off.

'Oh yeah, if it hadn't been so obvious you just needed to sleep, it would have been funny as hell.' Spike rapped the spatula against the metal bowl, making it ring dully. 'But on the other hand, I get to carry you to bed like you were my Sleeping Beauty.'

'Heeheehee. Oh, um, is there anything incriminating in the bathroom medicine cabinet or drawers?'

'Define incriminating?'

'Anything that would suggest you are anything less than a perfect gentleman when I sleep over here.'

'You mean like our condoms, maybe any KY or toys we might play with?' He shook his head. 'We don't use toys here, we keep them at your place, since they do belong to you. And KY isn't our preferred brand anyways, we like straight up coconut oil for getting creative. And all of this begs the question - why is that important?'

'Because my dad and stepmom are the kind of people who are accidentally nosy.'

'Accidentally nosy,' Spike repeated, and Winnie nodded.

'Let's say you need to blow your nose when you're done using the can. Instead of using toilet paper, Rachel and my father would be the type to search the drawers for a box of Kleenex and find something like, oh I don't know, your nearly empty box of Trojans.'

'I take it that happened to you?'

Winnie nodded. 'When Rachel came to visit me one time when I was at university, she saw it was the twelve pack and only two were left. She cussed me out like you wouldn't believe. Before you ask, it was the same guy who was helping me deal with my dad having a new girlfriend. There was very little affection, just good sweaty stress relief.'

'I was just thinking that it's sweet Rachel was still just your dad's girlfriend and she was already feeling maternally protective of you.' Spike didn't bother added that it must have been a nice change after the horror stories he'd heard about her mother to feel like she had someone watching out for her in that respect.

'Well almost-thirty-four year old me appreciates that now, but nineteen year old me just felt stupidly embarrassed that she was being so hypocritical.'

'Understandable.'

'Anyways, as much fun as ithis kind of sexy-talk is with you,' she deadpanned, making Spike chuckle, 'I think we need to quickly go over our menu and make sure we have everything ready.'

'Winnie, there isn't going to be a quiz at the end, you know.'

'I know, I know, I just wanna make sure the first thing we do together as a couple like this for our friends and family isn't some major epic fail.'

'You know we're all cops and used to making amends on the fly.'

'Exactly. That's the job. This is for fun, so it shouldn't be some slap-dash half-assed affair, it should be nice and worry-free.'

Spike nearly made the bonehead move of opening his mouth to point out that no one was going to judge her, especially Sophie the professional caterer but he remembered hs conversation with Sam from the night before in the nick of time. Female pride was not something to screw with at the best of times. Winnie wanting to put on a nice spread for Team One and company definitely qualified into this category.

'Alright, then, how can I help?'

'Open the fridge and tell what is prepared that needs to be put on a plate.'

He went through the items of the fridge, then grinned as he began to pull out platters. 'That's kinda like what you do, isn't it?'

'What?'

'Search and destroy for information at work?'

'Yeah, kinda. Oh, that reminds me, my dad will grill you to death in a friendly way about your job, because he is very keen to know what it is you do. So it's not him being pushy or bloodthirsty, he just has a very childish sense of curiosity. In a good way.' Winnie smiled. 'I get that from him.'

'I remember that day when you came to see me in the garage and I was giving Babycakes some TLC, you were trying so hard to be cool but I could tell you were super jazzed to check her out,' Spike replied with a wink.

'That was more me trying to stay cool around you because the night before was the first time I finally admitted to myself I had a little crush on you.'

'Aww.'

Spike crossed over to her, gave her a tender kiss, then just held onto her as they stared out the window into the microscopic backyard Spike cared for with utmost pride. It was full of chairs and tables, some he'd actually borrowed from his neighbour who lived in the other half of the duplex, and soon those would be filled with people noshing down the tasty treats Winnie was making. 'Should I get the grill fired up soon?'

'On low, I think. We have a woman almost six months pregnant joining us so I think she'd appreciate having her food sooner rather than later.'

'How is Jules feeling after her little meltdown about Wordy's birthday?' Spike asked, looking for the barbecue torch in his kitchen drawers.

'Much better, I think the trip out to see her brothers reminded her how amazing a hubby she has, and...oops! See? I was right! They will be here and nothing is ready!'

The _ding-ding_ of the doorbell could only make Spike shake his head; in a way it was nice to see his girlfriend could freak out like any normal woman. With this thought making him grin, he opened the front door.

'Hey guys, come on in!'


	31. Get This Party Started II

'Misser 'Pike!'

Issy Lane tottered forward, dropping Sophie's hand to wrap her arms around Spike's legs; behind her, Sophie had the baby bags and Ed the cooler with some of the in-laws homemade Greek treats to bring as their contribution while Clark was still back by the car. Issy made a little 'mm-mm' noise as she rocked back and forth.

'Hey little lady!' Spike knelt to return Issy's enthusiastic hug. 'You look so pretty today.'

'I wearing ba-ba-coo 'lothes, they fo' puh-lay time!' In the way of all women before her, Issy unwound her arms from Spike's broad shoulders and did a proud little twirl to show off her denim shorts and neon-green t-shirt before racing over at Winnie in the kitchen and gave her the same treatment. 'Hi pidy Pin-cess Winnie!'

'Hello my little darling.' Winnie dried her hands, gave Issy a boost up onto her hip. 'Are you excited for having hot-dogs today?'

'No dots! Bugger!'

'Issy, we were just practicing that in the car!' Clarke, who'd made his way into the house, pretended to be exasperated as he hauled in the cooler of beer towards the kitchen. 'Say it with me, burger.'

'Bugger!'

'Burger.'

Winnie caught the mischevious gleam in Issy's eyes, tickled her tummy. 'Little goosy, you know how to say that, don't know? Show me like a big girl. Burger.'

'Brr-ger.'

'Very nice.'

'Thank God I'm single,' Clarke sighed, making Ed and Spike laugh. 'I've got enough girly calamity with Issy learning to talk without adding to the noise.'

'All in good time, son. Spike you want a hand getting the grill up and running? Wordy and his bevy of beauties are gonna be right behind us.'

'When's Dean getting here?'

'Soon.'

As Clarke gave an affable shrug, Ed shook his head. 'Something no one ever tells you, even when they're big, they're still kids,' he informed Spike as they headed out to the grill, away from the women and children into the man zone, chauvanistic as it sounded. He'd caught the look in his friend's eye when he'd seen Winnie holding Issy on her hip and made her laugh. 'You and Winnie had that talk yet?'

'No, we don't even-' Spike cut himself off, unsure if it would be cool with Winnie to tell Ed they weren't even at the point of having non-condom sex yet. Fortunately for him, Ed being the astute sort could fill in the blanks without Spike having to

'Hey don't worry about us giving you shit anymore, dude. We just couldn't stand the fact that you two felt so strongly about each other yet couldn't figure out how to tell each other.'

'I love her.'

'I know you do, and she loves you right back.'

'I know that too, but as I said to Sam, I don't wanna fuck things up with her because it was hard enough to handle the sting the first time I asked her out and she turned me down flat.'

'But she didn't turn you down flat, buddy,' Ed pointed out. 'She told you she wanted to but had very good reasons and then you went to work being Spike even more on her.'

'Spike even more,' he repeated.

'We all saw the way you would flirt with her just to make her laugh, and it always put you in a better mood, even after calls that went south, but after she said I wish I could-' Ed was very careful to word Winnie's initial reaction in a way that would put Spike at ease '-you would amp up the flirting with her without even realizing it.'

'And you think that softened the edges up?'

'Michelangelo, you asked her to go to Italy with you and she said yes.' Ed lifted the lid on the cooler Clarke had brought out to the patio, cracked open a bottle of Alexander Keith before passing one to Spike. 'Why would she say yes if she didn't think of you as more than a friend?'

'Free trip to Italy?' But even as Spike said it, he knew it was crap - Winnie wasn't...well, not to speak ill of a friend and former kinda-flame, Winnie wasn't a user like Natalie Braddock. She wouldn't have taken advantage of him like that, it just wasn't who she was. 'Alright, I get it but still...'

'Hey, you gotta wait for the right time. You know how many times I chickened out of asking Sophie to marry me?'

'Seriously?'

'It took me about three months to finally figure out how to do it best and it was totally worth the wait to see her face when she said yes.'

Spike drank his beer, thought about such a moment with Winnie. 'See, those kinds of things, I don't worry about her reaction.'

'No?'

'No, I think about how to do it, what would be meaningful for both of us.'

Ed's face split into a grin; he thought of the way he'd fantasized over such a moment with Sophie after only a few months together with her. He'd dared not bring it up to his other fellow cops, but then again, he'd also been a lowly rookie when he'd met his bride. He'd had few people to talk to about it since the majority of his friends were either divorced or single young guys. The only one had been Wordy who'd already started dating Shelley; hindsight being what it was, that had been one of the things that had drawn them together.

Now Ed had a chance - finally - to be the big brother to Spike on a very personal level, even more than when he'd lost Lou and his father. Clinking his bottle of beer against Spike's he rolled his tongue over his teeth. 'So you can stand here and talk all this big game, yet you're still scared of that little word to tell your girlfriend?'

'Yes I am.'

'Okay. Just so we're clear.'

'Yo, Mister Lane!'

Ed turned around, saw Dean and Mira standing by the door, each holding up plates. 'The Wordys just got here and Winnie said we should get the food on the grill soon, so are you ready for these yet?'

'Tell her give it about fifteen so it's up to temperature.'

They both nodded, and when they were gone Spike breathed a little sigh of relief. 'Winnie is a basketcase, she wants everything to go perfectly today. She has some kind of inexplicable need to impress Sophie, too.'

'The minute you try to figure out women's motives for impressing other women, check yourself into the looney-bin, my friend. Now, tell me more about what happened after you guys left the club on Wordy's birthday.'

Inside the house, Winnie watched her man and Ed chatting at the barbecue while drinking beer, while Dean, Mira and Clarke tried to find their own corner around the snacks away from the adults. Beside her, Sophie was setting Issy into her high chair as Marina carried in trays of something that smelled wonderfully tomato-y and Italian; Greg stayed on his feet to hold open the door for Wordy and his family. It felt so homey, so organic to have people over together to the house - Winnie felt a little funny calling it _their_ house when they'd only been together three and a half months, but she knew her nerves were probably more to do with the fact that her parents and her brother were going to be joining them shortly.

She so desperately wanted to show off Spike to her father and Rachel, not necessarily to gain their approval for him but more for them to see how phenomenally happy he made her. Winnie had never been one to equate a boyfriend with happiness, but she couldn't deny that he'd gone from feeling awesome about herself to feeling like a super-hero super-model because of him.

'Hey, Deep Thought, did the Heart of Gold land on the lawn or what?'

Winnie turned to see Sophie smiling at her, walking over to look through the window at her man beside her friend's man. 'You're lucky I love science fiction books, so I get that reference.'

'You're not still thinking I'm gonna be all snotty about your cooking skills or some such nonsense are you?' Sophie asked hesitantly, relieved when Winnie shook her head.

'No, no, it's...my dad and stepmom and brother are coming today to meet Spike. Wordy gave him the idea that we can make it like a Team One type thing and they're tagging in to feel more comfortable-'

'When it's the other way around. Gotcha.'

'Mama, brr-ger soon?' Issy hollered from her chair.

'Soon, sweetie, Mama's talking to Miss Winnie right now.'

Winnie smiled, saw the door open with the Wordsworth gang on the other side. 'Hey, come on in!'

'Un-ca Kevin!' Issy clapped her hands, then flicked them at her mother. 'Shoo shoo Mama, wan' say hi Un-ca Kevin!'

'Man, you are such a little troublemaker!' But Sophie obliged her daughter, went to find a drink while Wordy came over to say hello to his god-daughter.

'Hey there, you excited to see Winnie and Spike have a big first moment together?'

'They say love you?'

'No, not yet,' Wordy laughed, 'but Spike is going to meet Winnie's mama and daddy and little brother today.'

'Oooo, they love him,' Issy decided with a little nod, and Winnie snickered.

'Let's hope you are right, little lady.'

* * *

An hour later, it was easy to forget her nerves, as Spike's house was filled with the sounds of people enjoying themselves. As Spike had told her, Wordy's oldest girl was swooning away over Dean and Clarke, and preening over being treated like a big-kid by Mira. Issy managed to have a small nap which appeased her parents and she was currently in the middle of playing a friendly game of kick-around soccer with the much older under-agers at the party.

Sadly, Jules and Sam had had to cancel - Jules had been having some weird feelings that morning so Sam had taken her to the ER, where they'd informed her she needed to spend a solid forty-eight hours in bed lying on her back to help raise her blood pressure. Spike had tried to point out to Sam that some salty barbecue food might do the trick but Jules had said she just wanted some quiet after a long wait in the noisy ER. After promises

'That seriously sucks they couldn't make it, you know how much Sam would miss a chance to tease Spike,' Sophie sighed.

'Why does Spike always get picked on so much?' Marina inquired.

'Because they like to think of my man as little baby brother. I've tried to assure them that he is very much a man yet they don't wanna hear how I can verify that for them.'

'We wanna hear about it.' Sophie wiggled her eyebrows, sipped her beer. 'We need a proper girls' night to get all the details and if I remember correctly your birthday is coming up in two and a half weeks, right?'

Winnie could only shake her head at Sophie, then jutted her chin at the door. 'Marina, can you grab that?'

Marina nodded, answered the knock to find a rather striking black man with a silver mustache and black framed glasses standing with a blonde woman and a young man of about fourteen with skin like cafe au lait and blue eyes just like the woman's.

'Hello, this is Mike'Angelo's house?' the man asked with a slightly musical accent that spoke of tropical sunsets and warm island breezes.

'Yes, oh you must be Mister and Missus Camden.'

'Please, it's Pietr and Rachel.' Pietr held out his hand to shake Marina's. 'And this is young master Aaron.'

'Dad,' Aaron groaned, then held up the cloth grocery sack. 'Winnie asked us to bring ice cream.'

'She's in the kitchen, come on in and meet everyone.'

Marina led them in, called out to Winnie, 'Constable Camden, your guests of honour have arrived!'

'Daddy! Rachel!' Winnie dried her hands in a flash and was over to hug her father and stepmother in a way that had the other members of the Team One family raising their eyebrows. They knew Winnie was close with her father but they hadn't expected to see Daddy's little princess either. She kissed them both, then nearly hauled Aaron to his toes; rather than groaning again in embarrassment, Aaron returned the embrace with just as much enthusiasm.

'So where is the master of the house?' Pietr asked, knowing it would rile up his daughter. He laughed when she gave him a swat and made a face at him. 'I know I know it's his house and you're the master.'

'Damn right. Oh, Daddy, this is Marina Montgomery she is the Sarge's girlfriend, and Sophie Lane, she is Ed's wife.'

Sophie held out her hand to greet them all, noting the nerves dancing in Winnie's eyes. Deciding to put the girl out of her first-time-with-the-folks misery, she pointed out the kitchen window. 'I think Spike's out there with his team-mates they're working on the meat for supper. We're gonna eat in about twenty minutes or so.'

'Perfect, we have just enough time to get a drink and scare the poor lad to death,' Rachel replied with a hint of tease in her voice, then squeezed Winnie's shoulder. 'Don't worrie, sweetie, unless he's naked and dancing for dollar bills on the patio, I doubt there's much that could go wrong with a first time meet-and-greet like this.'

Winnie nodded, then with a hand not quite steady she pushed the sliding door open, saw Sophie called it right - Spike, Wordy and Ed were all at the grill, and Spike had evidently put on his barbecuing apron. 'Spike? Sweetie, look who finally made it here!'

Spike glanced over at the sound of her voice and without thinking, turned around. 'Oh hey guys, just give me a moment. Wordy, here take this.'

He passed over the barbecue tongs to Wordy, caught sight of the fact that Ed and Wordy sounded like a teakettle as they tried to hold in some sudden burst of laughter. Slightly confused Spike looked back to Pietr and Rachel who were wearing similar expressions.

It was only when he saw every last ounce of blood drain from her face that he remembered he wasn't wearing his usual Wile E Coyote apron. No, of course he wouldn't because that would have been too kind of the universe; no instead, he still wearing the ridiculously inappropriate apron Wordy had given him as a gag gift for hosting the barbecue today, the one that had the image of a well-muscled, very oiled-up German stripped whose tighty-whiteys left zero room for imagination just how well-hung this stud-horse was.

'Oh holy Jesus,' he muttered, looking down at himself as he began to fight with the strings. 'Wordy, goddammit shut up laughing and help me.'

When Wordy's only response was to finally burst into guffaws, doubled over until he was tomato red with tears running down his face Spike let out a low growl of frustration and began to fight with the strings. 'Fuck, fuck, fuck,' he muttered trying to strip the damn thing off. 'Winnie?'

'I got it, Mike.'

Winnie had felt her brain freeze over when she'd seen what her boyfriend was wearing, it was only hearing her father's laughter that kicked her into action - she bounced down the steps, untied the strings of the apron from Spike's belt-loops and passed the neck piece over his head before giving his flaming cheek a little kiss. 'It's okay, Spike, I just figured we'd wait until Thanksgiving before they saw you in your undies.'

'Fuck,' Spike muttered once more, dragging his hand over his face before holding it out to Pietr, who'd made his way over to them. 'Sir, I just-'

'Oh, let me guess. Your teammates pranked you, and you held up like a champ, then forgot you were being a team player until we happened along.'

'So that's where you get that from,' Spike deduced looking at Winnie. 'It's not just learned, it's genetic.'

'Why don't we try this again.' Pietr held out his hand, shook Spike's warmly. 'I'm Pietr Camden, this is my wife Rachel and our son Aaron.'

'Nice to meet you sir.'

'Oh, don't call him that,' Rachel sighed lightly. 'He gets that all the time at work, the last thing he needs is hearing it away from the office.'

'Yes, well, despite your taste in protective cook-wear, Winnie has told us wonderful things about you, but I want to hear more about this Baby-Cake bot,' Pietr told Spike, 'so let's find a drink and you can tell me more.'

Winnie watched her father follow Spike to the cooler, glance at Rachel. 'See, I told you he's really that unlucky.'

'I believed that,' Rachel replied, 'and also believe he was saving it all up to be rewarded with you. Now, where's the wine?'


	32. Homewrecker

As everyone got cozy and made Winnie's parents feel at home while they loaded up plates of burgers and hot-dogs and other barbecue trimmings, Spike deliberately chose a seat on the end of the patio opposite to where he saw Winnie park herself with Leah, her date Jean-Miche, and Greg. He'd also seen how Aaron had grabbed a plate and was making fast friends with the others there so Spike knew if a nearly-fourteen year-old could do that, surely he a bomb-disposal expert could handle something similar.

When Pietr came over with his plate full of chicken on a bun, veggies, and potato salad and two bottles of beer, Spike braced himself for the Spanish Inquisition. Or rather, the Aruban Inquisition; he remembered that much.

'So, Mike'Angelo, Winnie tells me you work with things that go boom, made by people trying to prove a point?' Pietr asked in his musical voice before biting into his chicken; the phrasing of it made Spike laugh.

'I've never heard it quite put like that. But yes, I dispose of bombs.'

'Your parents must be so proud to have a son so brave.'

'My mom is, I think, but my dad just couldn't handle my profession being so dangerous, especially after my friend died from a landmine on a very risky call three years ago,' Spike replied, and Pietr nodded.

'Yes, my little girl was very shaken up by that, kept saying how guilty she felt because you were still alive.'

The words felt as tangible to Spike as the moment when Winnie had shoved him back on his heels when she'd cried to him that it could have been him blown up instead of Donna. 'It...it comes with the territory,' he started to stammer, and Pietr waved him off, sandwich in hand.

'Pah, my girl thinks she is so clever, I could see it was because she was sweet on you already.'

'Winnie said you and Rachel met through work as well,' Spike replied, deliberately trying to change the subject so that he had a chance to wash down the burger suddenly sticking in his throat. He was relieved when Pietr nodded, waved his fork back and forth.

'Yes, Rachel owns her own accounting firm. She works with another accountant who does personal finances and Rachel small-business financial management. We met at a conference being put on by my bank on new software, and my life hasn't been the same since.'

'Were...' Spike trailed off, shook his head. 'Forgive me sir, that's too personal.'

'What is?'

'Tricky. You'd have made a hell of a negotiator.'

'The question is still there.'

'How long were you and Winnie's mom split up before you met Rachel?' he inquired, hoping Pietr didn't think him impertinent. Spike was monumentally relieved - and surprised - when Pietr gave him an honest answer.

'Winnie's mother and I split up shortly after Winnie turned eighteen, divorced just after New Year's. I met Rachel the following August so almost a year. Rachel was no trophy wife, believe me, it took her a try or two to convince her that a date with me wouldn't bring about the apocalypse.'

'I've been there with Winnie too.'

Pietr's laugh was bright as the afternoon sun. 'I'm sure you have my boy, Winnie's got many of her mother's good traits but also her stubbornness. What finally convinced her you were worthy of my little girl's high standards?'

'Well...' Spike took a sip of beer before explaining to Pietr the story of his first attempt to woo Winnie and how she'd warmed to him and their relationship became romantic three months prior. He looked across the patio, saw Winnie laughing about something with their friends, the soft curves of her body, her face so full of joy and spoke from the heart. 'There's something about her that is simply irresistible, and I plan on spending a very long time figuring out what that something is.'

'I know the feeling. You are respectful of her? You treat her like a princess?'

'Always. I love her very much.'

'Yes, I know.'

He laughed at the man's easy acceptance of such a strong, blunt statement. 'You're okay with that?'

'Only because I can plainly see why Winnie gushes so much about you and loves you right back. If you weren't this kind of man, I would tell you to stay away from my sweet little toffee-nut.'

'I haven't told her yet.'

'Yes, I know that too,' Pietr replied with a twinkle in his dark-brown eyes. 'Believe me, Rachel would be buzzing in my ears.'

'Si- Pietr, can I ask something else?' Spike took a bite of his burger to collect his thoughts.

'Of course, my boy.'

'How did you and Rachel handle the fact that you're black and she's white?'

Pietr took another bite of his sandwich, made a negative noise. 'For us, the bigger issue was our age difference. Her friends were more concerned I'm eight older than her. I was around forty or so and she was thirty-two, and she'd owned her accounting business already for three years. Her friends wanted to make sure she wasn't just some toy I wanted to play with.'

'Understandable. And now you have Aaron, he's a nice kid.'

'Winnie told me this barbecue to raise funds for his Terry Fox run, but I don't understand how that is going to work since you've spent a small fortune on snacks alone. Tasty snacks, I might add,' Pietr amended, polishing off his potato salad.

'That's the thing about Team One, we've always got a little trick up our sleeve.'

'I cannot wait to see it. In the mean time, I think you're about to be saved by your girlfriend.'

Spike glanced over, saw Winnie sauntering up to him; she put her hands on his shoulders and squeezed lovingly. 'Hey sweetie.'

'Hey right back. Hope Daddy's not scaring you too much.'

'Nah, we're good,' he assured her, knew it would throw Winnie off her game a little.

'Okay, well can you help me bring out some of the fruit and dip for the kids? They've already finished and want something sweet.'

'Sure.'

Spike reached up to take one of Winnie's hands, linking fingers with her as they headed into the kitchen; as everyone was outside, Winnie took the moment to plant a whooping kiss on Spike's mouth, the kind that made his ears buzz. 'Wow, okay, hi,' he laughed when she drew her lips away but still held him in a tight hug. 'What's that for?'

'That is for being so awesome with my family.'

'Aw, shucks Win,' Spike drawled, making her laugh.

Winnie kissed him again, this time gently sucking his lower lip into her mouth before whispering in his ear, 'I have some very sexy new panties I've saved for a special occasion, just for when you deserve a treat and hitting it off with my father definitely counts.'

Spike closed his eyes, groaned as he felt his body respond to the fantasy picture she concocted. 'How much later is later?'

'After we have our fundraiser games for Aaron and my parents are wowed even more, and we are certain our gutter-brained friends won't think we're shooing them out the door so we can have sex.'

'Fantastic they're never gonna leave,' Spike whined playfully. 'C'mon, we better get what we came in here for or else they'll think we're doing it now.'

* * *

Despite Spike's griping, they did indeed manage to shoo the others out the door at a fairly decent hour, probably since Team One was on stand-by the next day and had to be prepared which meant a decent night's sleep. The moment the final guest had left, Winnie had grabbed her man's hand and tugged him upstairs to the bedroom where she'd waited until he was naked and waiting for her before stripping out of her barbecue clothes to reveal her own sexy little secret and they'd proceeded to have very loud, dirty satisfying sex.

'Winnie?' Spike groaned as he felt his heart thunder in his chest, Winnie sprawled on top of him.

'Yeah?'

'How often do you go lingerie shopping? Because it seems like you have a never-ending parade of sexy underthings to tempt me with.'

Winnie turned her head so her chin rested in his chest, eyes looking up at his face. 'Makes me feel like a sexy bad-ass behind my dispatch console to know beneath my uniform I've got on a neon blue lace thong or striped satin Brasilian cut panties and matching bra.'

Spike groaned happily as Winnie popped up to let him deal with the condom, saw her rub her stomach. 'You alright? That last move could have left some dents.'

'No, just feeling snacky. Might go grab a leftover burger or hot-dog from the fridge, maybe some chips or carrots to go with. You want anything?'

'Nah, I'm good.' He frowned when he saw her pick up his discarded t-shirt, its hemline skimming her very sexy behind. 'Babe, why are you putting on a t-shirt? Are the peeping-tom dust-bunnies waiting with little binoculars?'

'You never know,' she replied, sticking her tongue out playfully at Spike. 'I'll be back in a moment.'

She kissed him quickly, then popped out of bed to go find her post-coital snack. What was she in the mood for, she mused as she headed downstairs, then gave a little snicker. She wanted more Spike but that would have to wait a moment. They needed their energy back if she wanted to rock his world again.

It had never been like this before, that she'd been truly in love with with a man the way she was with him. Sure she'd loved him for a while, but being 'in' love with him was even better than simply loving him. Even when she was having a shitty day - and being a cop, that phrase had a wide-reaching range of definitions - she simply had to look at the wallpaper of her phone, see the image of them together and she knew things would be okay because she had him to turn to.

But that soft and gooey sentiment would have to wait, as she was in the mood for a junk-food fix - she'd told him she wanted a burger, but maybe she wanted a hot-dog instead. Scanning the contents of his fridge, she saw there were leftovers from the fruit and cheese plate which she thought about then decided against; after the loud dirty sex they'd just had, that would be like chasing chilli-dogs with champagne. When she spied the leftover chicken, the rolls and garnishes to make a sandwich, she thought perfect. What better way to prove that sex didn't always have to be pretty and perfect, it just needed to work?

Winnie grabbed the casserole of chicken, prepared to shred it off the bone when she heard the footsteps outside, the scraping of something across the front porch. Fantasies of sharing chicken on a bun and bouncing on her boyfriend went right out the window as every cop instinct kicked in. Winnie's service pistol was locked up with Spike's sidearm upstairs and she'd be damned if she'd run away like some horror movie trope. Instead she found the butcher's block of knives on the counter by the stove, grabbed the carving knife out of its slot; Winnie knew she would have the law on her side if she had to use it.

Moving as quietly as she could and forgetting she had no underwear of any type on, Winnie moved so she was hiding in the shadows by the staircase, knife ready in her hand. She watched the deadbolt's diamond-shaped mechanism turn smoothly from flat and secure to vertical and unlocked with her breath held, heart pounding in her chest.

When the figure slipped in, large bag over its shoulder, Winnie stayed where she was - no need to pick a fight, the intruder might be carrying firearms after all. The figure turned on the lights, and she sprang to action.

'Police! Hands above your head, now!' she bellowed, brandishing her kitchen knife just like she would her firearm.

The figure - woman, actually - let out an ear-piercing squeal, something silvery clattering out of her hand to the floor. She turned, long blonde hair dusting her shoulders as she did so and Winnie lowered her knife when she realized who the intruder was.

'Natalie? What the fuck are you doing here? It's after midnight!'

'I'm on layover from Billy Bishop and Spike said it was cool if I crashed here when I needed to so I used thespare key since it was so late and I didn't think anyone would be still up.' The words came out so quickly together out of Natalia Braddock's mouth they were nearly a single entity. 'I-I-I-I didn't realize he might have company, the last time we talked he hadn't mentioned anything about-'

'Winnie?'

Winnie looked up the stairs, felt her brain go from the ice-cool of a cop facing a criminal to the red-hot of a girlfriend embarrassed. And Spike, being Spike, was about to make it worse - in his haste to get downstairs, he'd skipped the clothes, and was naked but for his service weapon in hand. 'Mike, it's okay, well not really but it's not what you think.'

Spike was nearly at the bottom of the stairs when he saw the woman standing in his living room with his girlfriend and felt his face go a rather unnatural shade of neon magenta. 'Natalie,' he managed to stammer out, lowering his weapon, 'why didn't you call first?'

'I didn't know I'd be in town, I...' she trailed off, her own cheeks bright pink as she tried not to laugh and stare. 'I have a layover from work and thought I would come by to catch a few hours of sleep.'

'Right.'

Spike had totally forgotten that he'd offered Natalie the use of his couch after she'd found her job as a stewardess for Porter Airlines. As she claimed Edmonton as her home base now and she'd only needed some sleep for a few hours every so often when she had longer flights coming from the United States. It was closer to Billy Bishop and cheaper than paying for a hotel for just a few hours so Spike had thought nothing of it; she hadn't taken him up on the offer since Easter of that year so he'd figured she'd found other means of accommodation when she was in town.

He could feel Winnie bristling up, clearly assuming the worst and not entirely blaming her for it given that Spike did have a bit of history with Natalie. Lowering his weapon he went to take the steps the rest of the way down, went to take Winnie's hand, not at all surprised when she shied away from him.

'Mike, why don't you go put something on?' she suggested, arching an eyebrow; as if he was just realizing it, Spike looked down at his completely naked body. It was a small blessing that his own spike had popped up to say hi to Natalie, he thought, as he turned upstairs to find some clothes.

While her boyfriend went to cover himself up, Winnie turned back to Natalie, felt the urge to cross her arms over her chest but that would have hitched up Spike's shirt just enough to make it one-hundred percent clear she had no bottoms on. Instead she bounced her palms nervously on the outsides of her thighs.

'So...'

'Winnie, I am so, _so_ sorry, I would never have come by unannounced if I'd known Spike was dating someone.'

'He didn't mention it?' Winnie inquired, hoping her tone didn't sound as spiteful as it did in her head.

'No, since I started working for Porter and started seeing someone, we kinda fell out of touch. We barely talked for ten minutes at my brother's wedding because he said he had to get back to the station to see you.'

'Oh.' Touched, as she knew her man to be that kind of stand-up guy, Winnie looked around. 'Well, I guess you can have the couch if you want, but I'm telling you, Spike is about to make up this little misunderstanding to me very loudly.'

Natalie nodded, glanced up the stairs. 'We never-'

'I know.'

'Oh, good. Not that we never, just...he's a great guy, Winnie, and I know you two will be very happy together,' Natalie said sincerely, without a single hint of bitterness in her voice as she discreetly dropped the Hide-A-Key into the dish by the door. 'I'm going to take my rental car over to the Radisson, I know they've already got a bill of rooms for Porter employees. You punish him good, girl.'

'I will.'

Winnie followed her to the door, locked it behind her just as Spike came downstairs. She grabbed his hand, tugged up back up, naturally confusing her poor befuddled beau.

'I-'

'Ditch the pants, hot stuff, so you can apologize your brains out to me.'


	33. Tomorrow Will Be Kinder I

_Okay everyone! Here we are with another nail-biting Team One hot call! For those who need a little background info, look up 'October Crisis' on Wikipedia for the subject's motivations to make a little more sense!_

* * *

'Still can't believe you were buck-ass nude.'

It was the Tuesday morning after the barbecue he and his bride had missed out on since Jules was feeling under the weather, and he was thoroughyl enjoying his bro-time with Spike. Or he had been until he heard about what had happened after everyone left and a most unwelcome surprise landed on his doorstep.

'Why the hell does my sister have a key, even?' Sam asked as he shoved the barbell out from his chest, stared at Spike who was spotting him.

'No, she just knew where I kept my Hide-A-Key and used that. The fact she knew where it was and feel comfy enough to use it didn't sit so well with my missus.'

'And there's you with only your rapier wit and computer skills for cover.'

'While holding my service weapon.'

'That Winnie's nickname for your dick?'

Spike groaned; he'd walked right into that one. 'Believe me Sam, it was awkward for everyone,' he reassured him.

'Dude.' Sam rested the barbell on its safety hooks, sat up to give a dramatic shudder. 'That's my sister, you know. It was bad enough when you two were dating but being reminded she's seen you naked-'

'For the record, that was the first and last time. Natalie's cute and all but I only want Winnie peeping on my junk. You're still in for Saturday?'

'Saturday? I thought Winnie's birthday party was on Friday night.'

'Winnie's doing the five-k run with her brother for Terry Fox.'

'Right, right I knew that.' Sam dragged a hand over his face. 'Living with a very pregnant cop makes you a tad forgetful. All your energy goes into making sure you don't set off the J-bomb.'

'Jules is coming for Winnie's birthday, right? Or at least part of it?'

'Just you wait, bro. My woman and her women have something planned for your woman on Friday.'

'Yeah, that's not cryptic at all,' Spike teased.

He craned his neck where he saw Winnie at the dispatch desk, drinking tea and typing. For a moment as he toweled off, he just watched her, fingers flying over her keyboard at a breakneck pace while her gaze darted from screen to screen. It made Spike wonder if she was on a hot call but there had been no alerts for Team One or Two today so far, so it must have simply been his sweetheart wanting to get as much of her paperwork done before her end of night-shift. It was a long shift for her too as a dispatcher - they usually worked in four day rotations with one twelve hour shift, two tens and an eight and today she'd was just an hour shy of completing her ten-to-ten. If they didn't get a hot call, he'd make sure he ordered her some nice for her lunch and have it delivered to their place; more and more he was thinking of his home as theirs since they were there more than they went to her place.

When she glanced up, caught him staring, she did her version of the kiss and a wink at work, or at least it was how Spike interpreted it - she crooked her index finger in a little wave at him before continuing on with her tasks. Grinning, Spike took a page from his girlfriend's book and got back to fitness training.

From her spot at the desk, under the guise of being very busy with paperwork, Winnie watched her man set his weights for doing leg squats. She liked when he did that one, as he always looked out the windows at the city which gave her a perfect view of his ass. Just like when they were in bed and she stretched out on her back to watch him get up for whatever reason. The word bed had her eyelids threatening to sink - it had been a busy night for Teams Three and Five and she'd been on her toes plenty; now that things had calmed a little she wanted to go to sleep in their comfy bed.

One hour, she reminded herself, one hour more where she had to be a good cop, and then she was on Winnie Time. Reaching for her glass dish of multi-flavoured Jelly Bellies, she felt the buzz of her mobile phone in her pocket. She grinned when she saw her brother's number; Aaron had gotten an upgrade on his phone from the previous Christmas, and discovered how to use iMessages.

When she read the message, she felt her blood chill. _Winnie, I'm at school and some guy just stabbed Ms Picard the secretary._

_Where are you, are you okay?_ she typed back with fingers slightly shaking, praying her brother had kept up his bad habit of leaving his phone on silent; it drove Rachel nuts when Aaron did that.

_I'm in the principal's office, under his desk. I'm okay, he didn't see me in here. I think Spike and Team One need to get here. I recognize Knife Dude._

'Ed!' Winnie yelled it out, gesturing him to her desk as she continued to type back to her brother. _Stay there, do NOT leave any details out._

'What is it Winnie?' Ed asked in his tough but kind way. He recognized the light in her eyes has he drew nearer as a rather familiar one - the scared impotence of a cop with family in jeopardy.

'I just got a text from my brother, he's at school and said that a man brandishing a knife walked in and stabbed the secretary in the main office.'

'Is he okay? Is he concealed?'

'Yeah, and he said he knows who the subject is, too.'

'Weapon at a school is nothing to fuck around with. Sound off, Winnie.'

Without a moment's hesitation Winnie hit the hot-call button to set off the system and the PA. As soon as she'd given the order for Team One to suit up, stabbing with at least one confirmed victim at Appleton College. She saw Spike freeze, redirect himself to her desk. His eyes were dark, serious as he took her hand, squeezed it tight.

'Is Aaron okay, have you heard from him?'

'Yeah, he messaged me the information to get guys going. I don't get it, that school is safe, that's why Dad sent me and Shannie and Aaron there.'

'Ed!' Spike hollered down the hallway. 'Constable Camden should come with us, she has a personal connection to the school.'

'Winnie, is your second here?' Ed asked, only slowing his stride as he turned around to see her, never breaking it.

'Yeah, Syd's in the locker-room.'

'Tell her get her ass in gear. You roll with me and Spike.' Ed could see the fight in Winnie's eyes to remain calm, clear-headed and figured much like Sam and Jules, they'd work better together than if he split them up.

'You still have your tac-gear?'

'Yeah.'

'Go suit up. You can fill us in on the way. Tell Syd to redirect any calls from nine-one-one about Appleton to us.'

Within ten minutes, Winnie was back in her kevlar SRU vest and cool pants, phone glued to her hand as she climbed in to the truck with Ed. Spike was letting her ride shot gun as he used the mobile laptop to call up any information he could about incidents at Appleton College.

'Winnie, any new info from Aaron,' Ed asked her as traffic moved out of the way on the Gardiner Expressway.

'Yeah, he said that he recognizes the guy with the knife, he's an upper-year student at the school. He's in Aaron's class, a grade nine class.'

'That's good, that narrows the field. Spike-'

'On it.' With lightning quick precision Spike called up the roster lists for Appleton College, flicked a glance at Winnie. 'How does your brother spell his name, Win?'

'A-A-R-O-N Bennett, B-E-N-N-E-T-T Camden. Birth date October seventeenth, nineteen ninety-nine.'

'Your brother's initials are A-B-C?' Sam said drily over the com; before Winnie could reply she heard Leah's voice too.

'Aaron was Winnie's grandfather in Aruba and Bennett is Rachel's maiden name.'

'His friends from baseball call him Alpha-Bits, like the cereal,' Winnie added with a little smile. She suddenly had a flash of being twenty years old and visiting Rachel in the hospital when she'd had Aaron where she'd thought the same thing as Sam. 'Appropriately enough he loves Alpha-Bits and alphabet soup.'

'He'll be alright Winnie,' Ed reassured her, 'his big sister taught him well.'

'Sometimes, that's not enough. There's a lot of motive for people to go starkers at a place like Appleton. It's a seven to twelve private school, room and board optional and they are also well known for their quote-unquote discretion.'

'What do you mean discretion, Winnie?' Leah chimed in.

'I mean when movie stars or politicians are in town for work and they need their offspring to go to school, Appleton hires out its staff as private tutors, or said offspring enroll for a semester or two,' Winnie explained, 'and the staff tends to look the other way when they screw up.'

'Like cheating on tests?'

'Like when an A-lister movie star's teenage daughter was caught with an ounce of cocaine in her room, and an MP's nephew was caught with the head cheerleader in his room after curfew.'

'Guys, I think I got him,' Spike informed them. 'Ran Aaron's class rosters and we have three upper-year students in grade nine classes. Alicia Curry is a grade eleven taking grade nine art, Wallis Stone is in grade twelve in grade nine french and Milton Daggs is in grade nine tech.'

Winnie sent the names of the students to Aaron, the wait for his response absolute agony. She sighed a quiet breath of relief when he sent back two messages - 'I'm in the office with the principal and two other students, I'm okay'. The second message was the one that concerned her just as much as her brother's well-being - 'It's Wallis in my French class.'

'Are you sure?' she typed back.

'Yes, I'm sure. Milton Daggs is black and this guy was a snow-cone.'

'Aaron confirmed it for us, our subject is Wallis Stone,' Ed informed the others over the coms; in the backseat Spike did his techno-wizard thing once more.

'Calvin Wallis Stone, age seventeen, comes from Thornhill. Parents are Meghan and Patrick Stone, both from money both have made lots of their own in pharmaceuticals.'

'That could mean easy access to samples of drugs,' Jules put in. 'Would Aaron know-'

'I don't know,' Winnie replied defensively, protectively. 'Aaron is observant but drugs aren't on his radar, at least not party drugs. Performance enhancing ones are a different story since he's such a sports nut.'

'Officer Lane, there is a nine-one-one coming in from Appleton College,' Syd told them from her position at the dispatcher's desk.

'Patch it through.'

The team waited for the connection, and Spike could hear the ragged breathing of a scared teenager. Why did everyone think teenagers were so tough, he thought. In his experience they were far more fragile than children ever were, far more trusting and cynical all at once, a fact he felt was proved when he heard the raspy voice thick with fear.

'H-hello, is this Aaron's sister?'

'No, this is Officer Ed Lane, Officer Camden is here and can hear everything we're talking about,' Ed reassured the student - he couldn't tell if it was a male or female - in the soothing tone he'd honed through years of doing this job. 'Can you tell me your name?'

'Vince, Vince Elway. I'm a grade ten student at Appleton.'

'Have you come into contact with the man with the knife?'

'Yeah, it's Wallis Stone. I crossed paths with him when he said he was looking for the languages office. I saw it in his hand but I knew the drama department's working on a stage version of _Hallowe'en_ so I figured he was returning a prop, I-I-I didn't think it was real until...'

'Until what?' Ed prompted him.

'I saw the blood on his hands. It wasn't bright enough, because stage blood has to be bright enough that it looks red on camera. This stuff wasn't.'

'What part of the building are you in now?' Winnie inquired.

'I'm in the arts wing, in the main building.'

'Are you in a classroom?'

'No, I ducked into the history office when the code red sounded and I'm the only one here, the other teachers are in the classrooms.'

'Mike-'

'Already got the floor plan.'

'Thank you Vince,' Ed informed him, as he could sense Spike's intensity and Winnie's anxiety over seeing her brother safe as well as resolving the incident rising. He gave the young man the number directly to the SRU dispatcher's desk if he had any more information to offer. 'Winnie, get me the main office number for the school.'

'Yes sir.' Winnie dialed the number on her cell which was still linked to the com system from Aaron's initial texts, waited until she heard the automated system telling her the extension number for the headmaster's office. Amazingly enough she was able to get through to him; she remembered him from Aaron's orientation in the summer. 'Professor Reynolds? This is Constable Winnie Camden from the Police Strategic Response Unit.'

'God that sounds hot,' Spike murmured; in his ear, the others laughed a little to break the tension so they could go into the situation with clear heads.

'Constable, yes I remember you. Aaron Camden's sister.'

'We need to know your location and the current situation of the school's security measures.'

'We called an immediate Code Red and paramedics have just arrived to assist Moselle. Our secretary who was injured.' Reynolds took a sip of something so his words wouldn't stick in his throat. 'I- We used the language that teachers who have secured their classrooms have to call in their room number, let the phone ring three times then hang up.'

'How many have checked in?' Winnie asked, unaware of the pride beaming out of Spike and the others who could hear her asking all the right questions.

'Of our four hundred rooms, only three hundred and ninety two have checked in.'

'That leaves eight rooms unaccounted for,' Sam pointed out.

'Five of those classrooms are away on field trips, which just leaves the languages office and two of our French rooms in the languages wings,' Reynolds replied.

'Give us the numbers of the rooms, please sir,' Spike inquired, pulling up floor plans of Appleton College.

'The language office is M-two-fifteen, and the two classrooms are M-two-thirteen and M-two-eleven.'

'M is for the main building Spike,' Winnie told him and he nodded.

'Got it. Sending a map with possible entry and exit routes for our subject.' He tapped a few keys on the mobile laptop and had the images shooting to the other team members.

'Okay, Professor Reynolds, I need you to listen to me very, very carefully,' Ed instructed him. 'I need you to get a message to your staff that the police are on their way without tipping off Wallis.'

'Wallis Stone? Oh Jesus.'

'Sir, do you know something we should going into this situation?' Jules inquired in her mama-bear tone. 'Is he a student with a history of conflict?'

'Conflict, not exactly.'

'Sir, we are aware of your school's policy to hush things up to keep up your reputation for alumni funds and other public involvement,' Leah said brusquely, 'but this is not the time for maintaining that policy. If there is something in Wallis' background that will be him a higher threat level, we need to know.'

Reynolds tried not to sigh. 'Wallis is a scholarship student, his grandfather was one of the soldiers sent into Quebec during the October Crisis. There was a trickle-down of the family's political views to the point where Wallis has been heavily defiant towards his FSL teachers and is on the verge of summer school or a fifth year of high school if he doesn't receive this credit in order to obtain his OSSD.'

'Okay so we have emotional and possibly political motivations. Thank you sir, do you have a cellphone you can set to silent mode?'

'Of course.'

Ed gave him Winnie's cellphone number to send text messages to, ended the call before speaking with the rest of the team. 'Okay, Jules, you are going to run point with administration. Sam is my second for negotiating, this kid comes from a military family so he will respond to a soldier best. Spike and Leah, I want you to clear the hallways, make sure we've got no stragglers. Winnie, you are running mobile command so you can tag team with Syd and filter out the text and cell traffic, and most importantly keep any inquiries from parents on the green light.'

There was a chorus of 'copy that' and Winnie felt her heart clench in her chest as they reached the school, stopped the truck.


	34. Tomorrow Will Be Kinder II

It felt so weird to be back at her old school on the job. Appleton College was known as a richie-rich school and while Winnie certainly hadn't been raised like a richie-rich - at least not like some of the people in her other classes - she knew its students had certain kinds of reputations in various social circle. Winnie was certain that had contributed to their current subject's state of mind while at school.

Her first instinct was to go into the office and find her brother, but there were protocols to follow; she couldn't even call her parents. Aaron had probably already taken care of that- no, no he wouldn't because like Ed had said, Winnie had taught him well and told him as strong as the desire to call loved ones was, in a crisis situation like this all it would take is one person to set off the shockwave of worry outside the building.

Ed glanced at Winnie beside him in the truck as he parked, flipped his comm off. 'If you need a moment take it now,' he told her quietly. 'You-'

'Permission to speak freely?'

'Of course.'

'Don't baby me on this. Don't make me a victim like the students in there could be. I am here because I know the layout of the school and the type of people inside.'

It was exactly what Ed wanted to hear and knew she probably felt a little better saying it aloud. He yanked the keys from the engine, hopped out with his gear to meet the rest of the team. 'Winnie, point us to the office,' he said, slipping on his aviator sunshades; the rest of the team followed her to the building.

Winnie could see the headmaster, Reynolds, she remembered him as a rookie science teacher in her grade twelve year at Appleton; he'd rose up the ranks and was now enjoying the privileges and hardships that came from being the head cheese. She watched as he actually scanned the group with the same eye the students gave outsiders - Winnie called it the Appleton Once-Over, to ensure that you had the tabs and tags of the labels they used to determine if you were worth their time - before picking out Ed as the leader.

'Officer Lane?'

'Professor Reynolds, what do we know?' Ed replied, shaking the man's outstretched hand.

'I just don't understand how this could happen at our school. We've never had issues like this before.'

'With violence?'

'No, we are a safe school. Our students are above that kind of thuggish behaviour.'

Winnie thought of hearing one of the older girls in the bathroom sniffling and had innocently assumed she was crying about something; a week later that same girl was expelled after her dorm manager had found an ounce of cocaine in her bathroom makeup drawer. She wondered what Reynolds would do if they were faced with that kind of scandal. 'We need to see any footage you have of the school grounds from seven am this morning.'

'Why?' Reynolds wrinkled his brow in annoyance. 'You know it's Wallis Stone, why can't you just find him?'

'An eyewitness who is frightened can give us good information, however we need to see the security footage in order to make an objective positive identification.'

'Fine. Come with me.' Reynolds turned held the door open for Team One to follow him into the building.

The atrium was not the classic Harry Potter-esque wood paneling they'd anticipated but the shiny light-coloured industrial tiling, glass-and-skylights and Swedish furniture appointments of an institution that evolved with the times. There was a fountain in the foyer surrounded by square benching Spike imagined a lot of students used for their lunchtime breaks or study halls. Straight ahead he could see the hallway lined with rows of lockers painted in the school's green and gold while to their right were offices with glass-walls and frosted sliding panels to serve for shutters.

'Kinda cocky, isn't it?' he muttered to Winnie, pointing; she gave a shrug.

'That's new since I was here, same with my sister. When we were students here, the worst incident of school violence we'd heard of was Jonesboro and Ecole Polytechnique. It was before Columbine and Virginia Tech. But that's the Appleton way of thinking. Our money insulates us inside and out.'

'You didn't like it here?' Jules ventured, and Winnie shrugged.

'I was a tuition kid. Not an alumni child but I had what counted to a lot of them here - a big fat checkbook in my daddy's office. So I wasn't treated like a beggar the way a lot of scholarship kids are. Of course, maybe the kids here now have mellowed since we live in different eras.'

'Teenagers are still teenagers, trying to fit in with the crowd and get their own way,' Sam pointed out, then fell silent as they follow Winnie into the main office. He saw the blood on the hardwood floor, the high heels tucked underneath the secretary's desk, and forced himself to clamp down on memories of his sister's small shoes. Instead he focused with the rest of the team, watched Ed go to the headmaster's office with Winnie.

It took all of Winnie's energy not to leap forward and grab her brother into her arms when she saw him in the room, the lights off and a letter-opener resting downward against his thigh. He raised it then lowered it as the overhead lights came on, his eyes dark and round in his smooth caramel face. They lightened considerably with recognition when he saw the faces of the people coming in.

'Winnie!' Aaron rushed over, flinging his arms around his sister's middle with such ferocity it actually took her back a few steps. 'You came!'

'Of course we did, buddy,' she said in a low voice, gave his head a little pat.

'I take it you know him, Constable?' Reynolds asked, and Winnie had to force her eyes not to roll; fortunately Aaron spoke up before she could even open her mouth.

'I told you sir, my sister's a cop with the SRU and she'd send her boys and girls over to take care of us.'

The innocence of it had Winnie choking up, Spike could see that much so he took the reins. 'Professor, can you direct Constable Camden towards the surveillance tapes? We will be needing them for our evidence log as well.'

Reynolds nodded, frowned when Ed put his hand on Aaron's shoulder to ease him back from his sister but showed Spike where he could retrieve the tapes. 'Aaron, you did the right thing today, however this ends,' he informed him. 'You need to remember that.'

'Thank you sir.'

'It's just Ed, or Constable Lane if you like.'

'Sir Ed,' Aaron amended with the same cheeky grin Winnie usually used. Under other circumstances, Ed would have laughed but they had bigger fish to fry today.

'You're going to go with Jules and Winnie into the command post truck,' he continued, then glanced over when Reynolds made a dissatisfied noise. 'Is there a problem sir?'

'This woman is not the boy's legal guardian. I cannot release him into her custody.'

'All due respect, Professor,' Leah informed him, her back already put up against his rudeness, 'Constable Camden is a police officer and Aaron's older sister, and an alumni of this school.'

The word alumni had Reynolds' eyes firing. 'Really?'

'Class of ninety-seven, when Arthur DeBeers was headmaster. You were just finishing your rookie year of teaching under Chris Apfel in the science department,' Winnie replied smoothly.

'Very well, I'll allow it.'

'Thank you. Winnie take Aaron to the command truck, he'll stay there with you and Jules.' Seriously pissed at how much time this asshole had indeed cost them, Ed moved to the phone on the desk. 'Is this thing equipped with PA capability?'

'Yessir.'

'Alright. Sam, Spike get me eyes and ears into the French rooms that haven't checked in yet.'

'C'mon Aaron.' Winnie ushered her brother out of the office, out of the way of danger; it was only when they got to the command truck and the door was shut behind them that she pulled him in tight for a hug. She didn't care how squirmy he got that she was hugging him in front of preggo Jules - very preggo Jules, her belly rested on her thighs now when she was sitting down - or that it would make her look weak to her colleagues. Aaron was safe, and that meant she'd be able to handle the rest of the call. 'Thank God you're safe.'

'Jeez, Win,' Aaron muttered as his face pinked up; sometimes she was worse than his mother the way she got all worked up about shit- er stuff. 'I told you I was okay, didn't I? Leggo.'

'Okay, okay.' Winnie drew back, gathered herself. She pointed at a chair on Jules' far left side. 'Stay there while we work, if we want your opinion or thoughts on something we will ask for it.'

'You got it.'

With Aaron stowed, Winnie sat down beside Jules, who was giving her a knowing little smile. 'What?'

'Just thinking about what it'll be like when you and Spike have babies,' she replied softly, 'and wondering who'll be the overprotective one, you or Spike?'

'Oh, me totally,' Winnie admitted as she slipped on her comm-set and began to pull every bit of information she could on Wallis Stone's family.

What she found told her that thing could appear on paper to be perfectly normal and their reality was quite different - Wallis Stone was indeed a scholarship student. He wasn't from teh wrong side of the tracks by any means but neither were his parents obscenely wealthy either. His father was stationed at CFB Borden, a mechanic by training and trade, and his mother was the top headhunter of Poster Pharmaceuticals. From the list of the family's extracurricular activities it was clear they took their military heritage quite seriously - Wallis was involved in Air Cadets, drill team, the history club and had even taken part in several student re-enactments of battles from The War of 1812.

'Winnie, talk to me,' Ed asked her, watching the way Sam fed the snake-cam under the door of the classroom, gave him a nod. 'What do we know about this kid?'

'From the looks of things, this is a no-playtime family, everything is about being involved in the military. All of Wallis' extracurriculars are geared towards a career in the armed forces,' Winnie replied, relaying what she'd found.

'Ed, I've also found some articles here as well about the government sending in troops to Montreal during the October crisis,' Jules added. 'Wallis' grandfather, Brock Stone, was a captain in the army and was quoted as saying 'these bastards don't realize they are on our land, part of our country, and it is our duty as English-speaking whites to stamp out the idiocy of French separatism both in politics and culture.'

'Charming man,' Sam said sarcastically.

'There's another article where Brock was interviewed after troops withdrew from Montreal, where he gave us another sound-bite.'

'Let's hear it.'

'Brock stated that they should have stayed in Montreal until the threat of French takeover and English subservience was completely wiped out.'

'You grow up thinking like that, you're bound to lose it when your French teacher tells you you're going to stay in high school unless you pass her class,' Spike agreed. 'His class?'

'His class,' Aaron piped up. 'It's Professor Lockwood, he's not even French by birth like Ms Picard, he's just good at teaching languages.'

'That could still make him a prime target, Aaron,' Jules pointed out. 'He's an anglophone whose career is rooted teaching French.'

'But why? That's so damn stupid!'

'Aaron,' Winnie said and Aaron wrinkled his nose; she tuned him out when she heard Syd's voice in her ear. 'Syd, go ahead.'

'I have a call here from Brock Stone-'

'Put him through.' Winnie hit the controls on the comm so everyone could hear the conversation. 'Sir, my name is Constable Camden with the Police Strategic Response Un-'

'Shut up, bitch, put me through to someone in charge. I wanna know what the hell the police are doing going after my grandson.'

'Sir.' Winnie heard Ed's voice, cold steel, in her ear, felt her heartrate steady if not slow. 'This is Constable Ed Lane of the Police Strategic Response Unit, I must advise you that speaking to Constable Camden in such a manner can be construed as verbally assaulting an officer.'

'She's got tits, she ain't an officer to me. What in fucking Christ are you doing going after my boy? You guys taking out right-thinking white Christians now?'

'Your grandson is Wallis Stone?'

'Yeah.'

'You're aware of the academic issues he's had regarding a specific subject? I understand this is a sensitive area for you.'

'It's not sensitive, it's crystal clear to me, you moron.' There was the sound of creaking leather, the sharp snap followed by rhythmic _tic-tic-tic_ sounds. He was in a car, Winnie realized and probably headed for the school. 'He's a proud member of our nation's military, he'll be in Ottawa in the House of Commons some day stamping out those god-damned leeching minority groups. I'll be damned if I'll let some witch-hunt against Wallis ruin his future.'

While Brock continued spewing his vitriol, Jules discreetly texted Spike and Leah - _Subject's grandfather could be on scene shortly. Where are you?_

_Main building is secure. No stragglers. Returning now, _Spike typed back.

_Double time, grandfather is potentially violent and Winnie is our only free body out front._

_Got it._

Jules tuned herself back into the conversation on her headset, heard Ed and Sam give an update - they had eyes inside, and there appeared to be one body down, extent of injuries unknown, second hostage taken, room divided according to logic known only to Wallis. There was more but it was drowned out by Brock Stone's ranting, which had Winnie standing up and leaving the comm truck; she didn't bother adding anything to Aaron - she'd caught his wide-eyed stare and knew he would stay mute as a statue.

Winnie was barely out of the truck and looking around, catching Leah rounding the corner of the main building when she saw the vintage navy-blue Buick scream to a stop in the driveway behind the command truck. She saw the man was, despite his age, in excellent physical condition as he leaped out of his vehicle and was in Winnie's face in three short strides.

'Sir-'

'Don't 'sir' me,' he barked, 'where is Wallis?'

'Captain Stone, your grandson is currently holding a classroom of students hostage in the school. A French class,' Winnie added, 'and he stabbed the school secretary, Moselle Picard. We need to talk to you to get a sense of Wallis' home-life to ensure that no one else '

'Get out of my way, I don't have to listen to you.'

Brock started to shove past Winnie, instinctively, she moved to block his path to prevent him from charging into the school and escalating the situation. She could sense Leah just behind her, ready to back her up if things got nasty.

It only took a second but that second was blinding - with lightning quick moves, Brock pivoted and backhanded Winnie sharply across her cheek, knocking her to her butt which was more humiliating than the slap itself. The instinct to reach up and soothe her angered flesh was quelled when she saw him go for Leah, grabbing her by the shoulders; Leah returned the gestured to fight him back, trying to twist him around so she could put him in restraints but the wiry Brock muscled loose and was ready to bolt inside the school.

'Hey!'

Brock glanced up, then found himself pressed face-first against the cold metal of the command truck by none other than Spike. He yanked the man's hands behind his back, roughly slapping on cuffs. 'You're under arrest for assaulting an officer.'

'Females got not business wearing uniforms, not when a little tap like that puts them on their juicy asses.'

'Hey.' Spike said it again, only this time it was with icy control. 'Constable Camden is a decorated officer who puts herself on the line every day she comes into work and today that means helping to keep your grandson from being hurt. You show her some respect.'

'Listen, pal-'

'No, you listen.' He pointed towards the school building. 'Wallis is in there and two of my team members are about to enter that classroom with the intention of bringing him down from this awful moment of his young life. You have choices here, just like Wallis does in there. You can either co-operate and tell us why your grandson would take a French class hostage and we will write it in our report that you did not resist arrest. Or you can continue being belligerent which will make you useless to Wallis and the officers with him right now, and we will be slower in learning about Wallis which could cost more lives, including your grandson's. What's it going to be?'


	35. No Woman No Cry

There was a humming silence between Brock Stone and Spike before the former finally relented. 'Fine, but I only talk to officers, no females in costume.'

'Watch it, sir,' Leah warned him, then held out her hand to help Winnie haul herself to her feet; she knew what it was to have ego dented more than the body parts and knew how much she'd appreciated another woman extending her hand to help get re-centered. She recognized the insulted pride in Winnie's eyes and murmured, 'Not here, girl.'

'Right.' Winnie inhaled a deep breath through her nose, snorted it out while she squared her shoulders as they heard Sam's voice introduce himeslf to Wallis - he'd breached the door and was beginning negotiations. 'Constable Callaghan has some interesting information we need to have a look at.'

Leah nodded, wondered how much of an effort it had taken Spike not to go old-school Italian on the guy roughing up his woman. It was a perfect microcosm however, if that pinhead Toth and his little rulebook decided to take a swipe at either one of them. She followed Winnie into the truck; once the door was closed she set aside her weapon, squinted at Winnie.

'That's gonna be nice and shiny.'

'Ugh, awesome. All I need for my birthday party pictures on Saturday,' Winnie griped. She'd be damned if she'd cry even though her face stung like she'd been backhanded with a snow-shovel. SRU officers didn't cry about their injuries, they buried their pain then bragged about it over well earned beers; Winnie thought briefly about giving in later in the shower.

Jules, who'd been focused on the console feed of Sam's snake-cam - God, how dirty did that sound? - turned and lifted an eyebrow. 'What the hell happened to you. Mmf, sorry, what happened?'

'Baby doesn't like the swears?' Winnie asked as Leah fiddled with the first aid box while Jules rubbed her big belly.

'Nope, not at all.'

'Brock Stone arrived on scene, clocked Winnie because she has tits and a badge,' Leah informed her, smashed an insta-freeze gel-pack between her hands. 'Put that on your face.'

'Leah-'

'Don't make me hurt you, that was a nasty hit you already took today.'

Grudgingly Winnie took the ice pack, pressed it to her bruising cheek. 'Should have seen that coming, I should know better. Can't wait to hear what the others have to say about the soft little secretary getting whacked.'

'Stop it,' Jules informed her gently but firmly; she knew it was Winnie's way of dealing with dented pride. 'We've all taken some hits, some we didn't see coming too. If anything I'd be worried about Spike blowing his wad about not being able to protect you.'

'Filthy hypocrite,' Winnie spat, hissing between her teeth when Leah walked over and clamped the gel-pack to her face. 'Jesus, Leah! That stings!'

'It'll sting worse if you don't keep that ice on it.'

'Spike knows I'm a cop too, and he expects me to only worry when it's warranted, but he gets to get all pissy about me getting slapped around, who does he think he is to-'

'There's a difference between worrying and wanting to keep your loved ones safe,' Jules pointed out, rubbing her pregnant belly to emphasize her point. 'There is nothing I wouldn't do for this little one, but that's different than worrying every morning that Sam and I might go on a call together but only one of us makes it home.'

'Okay, preggo-pants, point made but still...' Winnie lifted the gel-pack from her cheek, gently massaged the numbed flesh. 'Spike's protective but he's not gonna get all papa-bear on me, he knows I can handle myself.'

'Winnie? You there?'

In her earpiece, Winnie could hear Ed's voice, the quiet clicking of Sam picking the lock on the classroom door. Stealth and patience of a jaguar, that's what was indeed needed here. 'Yeah, I'm here, Ed.'

'Sounds like you took a little knock.'

'I'm fine,' she protested. 'Really.'

'Get some ice and-'

'Constable Lane,' Syd piped up from the station, 'we are getting a lot of calls here from parents. Word is getting out and fast.'

'Send any calls from parents to Jules. Winnie, you need to get some information out of the grandfather-'

'Negative, Ed,' Leah informed him, 'Brock has a serious hate-on for women in uniform. He'll see Winnie asking him about Wallis as an insult to his manhood, and he might take another swing at her.'

'Copy that. Spike, take Captain Stone, Leah and Winnie takes security of the main doors to the school. We've got unis at all egresses from the main building. No chance of getting in and out.'

'Got it.' Winnie tossed the gel-pack onto the desk of the command truck before picking up her tac-weapon and slinging it on her shoulder.

'Win?'

She glanced over her shoulder, saw Aaron eying her weapon with suspicion. 'Aaron, it's okay. I'm probably not going to need this, it's standard practice to carry it on a scene.'

'Okay.'

Jules heard his voice, suddenly small and quiet, and nudged the chair beside her out of the way, patted the console. 'Congratulations dude, you have been upgraded to expert civilian consultant. Come and tell me about the kids in your French class that Wallis would be interested in going after.'

Winnie mouth a quick 'thank you' to Jules as Aaron settled himself beside her before she left the truck. In the short time she'd gone in to get ice for her face and back out, Winnie saw there was now a cluster of cars and parents beyond the yellow tape. The uniforms had taken care of that with great efficiency; even more fortunate was the lack of CTV and Global News crew vans. There was little that sent the public from zero to Aida like breaking news of violence at a school that required police intervention. Setting her face into as stern of lines as she could, she crossed to the yellow tape where there was a cluster of parents standing and straining on tip-toe to see any signs of life or movement.

'Ladies and gentlemen thank you for your co-operation,' she boomed out in her best soccer-coach voice. 'The situation in the school is currently being investigated and resolved by Strategic Response Team police officers.'

'What is going on, Officer?' A woman with a tea-rose and cream complexion clutched nervously at the loose gold chain at her throat. 'We haven't been told anything, by our kids, only they went into lock-down.'

'The school has been put into lock-down to ensure the safety of the students while the matter is being investigated,' Winnie replied smoothly; this part of her job was easy - years of talking her mother down off of ledges had given her amazing calming-the-panicked skills.

'Whadaya mean, the matter?' Now a thick-bodied black man, black as her father Winnie thought absently, stepped forward. 'What is going on, we just want to know if our kids are okay?'

'Completely understandable sir. What is your line of work?'

'What?'

'What is your line of work?' she repeated, using the ol' 'look a shiny object' distraction technique.

'I work for McCormack Nutrition, in the sciences division.'

'What would happen if you had an employee who, say, discovered that there were unsettling test results in a batch of granola bars promising to keep their flavour and reducing fat by thirty percent, and said employee went public without so much as consulting you?'

'I'd have their ass boxed and shipped to Whitehorse. They know there's proper procedure and protocol to follow in a situation like that.'

'Exactly sir. The same thing would happen to me if I released any details without the proper authority from my superiors. I do not want to pass misinformation as that is the quickest way to create a panic.'

'Good job Winnie,' Ed said into her ear, 'we are almost through the door here, so we need any information about the class, and anyone Wallis would be keen to go after asap.'

'Copy that. Ladies and gentlemen, if any of you have students in Professor Lockwood's French classes, please step over here,' Winnie announced to the cluster, gesturing to her right with her hand. She saw the movement of several people, shuffling past others as she caught the sight of Spike speaking to Brock Stone. He pointed in her direction.

'I understand how it feels to have a loved one in jeopardy and I can assure you the best way to help them is to give me any information you might have about Wallis Stone and any of Professor Lockwood's students. Specifically if he or she is in the grade nine French class during homeroom.'

Three hands went up; Winnie beckoned them forward - a petite woman with wild Medusa-curls of chestnut brown framing her face, the large black man from before and another woman whose sun-gold skin spoke of a mix heritage like Winnie's own. 'Thank you, can you give me your name?' she asked the curly-haired woman.

'Patricia Rylance, my son Ben is in Lockwood's homeroom. I don't understand, he is a good boy, he gets good grades...' Patricia trailed off, fought back tears. 'Please, is there anything you can tell us?'

'Knowledge does bring comfort but at this time, we are trying to resolve the matter without creating unnecessary panic,' Winnie tried to reassure the woman; the man behind shook his head.

'She's just doing her job Patsy.'

'People get things wrong at work all the time.'

'She's SRU, they are shrinks as much as they are cops. My sister-in-law was SRU, Team Six,' he said. 'Constable Maria Torrence.'

'I know her, she's a good cop,' Winnie replied. 'Is it your son or daughter in Lockwood's class?'

'Daughter. Maria Darnell.'

'Ria, I know her.'

Winnie heard her brother's voice in her ear. 'Excuse me. This is Camden, go ahead.'

'Ria, her parents are from French Guyana, Ria is at the top of our class. If Wallis is going after Frenchies, she's a likely target,' Aaron told her.

'Thanks. Constable Lane, did you catch that?'

'Every word, thanks Aaron,' Ed replied in Winnie's ear; his voice was quickly replaced with Spike's.

'I've talked to Captain Stone here, he's agreed to go in for assaulting an officer and will plead no contest in exchange for being able to come in and speak with the officers in charge, Eddie.'

'Sam's negotiating right now, bring him up. Get Leah to do it,' he added, thinking of how a French woman would make him understand that his racist attitudes were not going to give him his own way like a spoiled child.

'Copy that. Let's go.'

Winnie glanced over, saw the handcuffed Brock Stone ushered up to Leah, and he went with her into the school as she heard it - Sam informing them the subject was secure. She wondered what Wallis would say to his grandfather, how his grandfather would react. Stepping away briefly, she murmured into her comm, 'Ed, I've got some anxious parents down here who want to know what the hell was going on.'

'Understandable.'

'What can I tell them?'

'Tell them the lead officer on the case will be coming down to speak with them momentarily. Good job today, everyone. Winnie go to channel two.'

Winnie clicked the button on her comm-set, heart pounding; had she said something wrong? Was she going to be giving a dressing-down for involving her brother? Oh, God. 'Sir, what is it?'

'Call your parents, tell them your brother is okay. Then take Jules and Aaron back to the barn for debriefing. And let your boyfriend fuss over you a little.'

'Sir-'

'That way you'll have reason to kick someone's ass and un-dent your ego from taking a hit. You did a good job today, Winnie.'

'Thanks.'

* * *

It was still dark when Winnie awoke; a quick glance at Spike's bedside clock told her it was just after midnight - she'd only been asleep for about an hour. The day had been so long after the debriefing from the incident at the high school. More parents had arrived long after Wallis Stone and his grandfather had been escorted by the uniforms for processing at the nearest precinct and so she, Spike and Leah, the three best with panicked civilians, had been relegated to handle parents fearing for their children's safety and ensure that no one was hurt or lost in the shuffle. After learning that it was bad family politics gone amok, and with Brock Stone showing renewed belligerence that Wallis had indeed taken the right course of action setting many of the parents within earshot off like he'd tossed a live grenade into the crowd, it had made for a very long day.

Once they'd been dealt with, Winnie had rode back to the barn with Ed and Spike, and sure enough, Spike's first order of business had been to turn off his comm and ask her about her face, rubbing his fingertips over her cheek and nose to ensure there was no lasting damage. She'd reassured him she was fine and that it was nothing some ice, a steak and a beer on his deck at home wouldn't fix.

By the time bedtime those tasks had been accomplished, along with seeing the Jays just barely making the playoffs over the Twins, Winnie had lain tired and naked self onto Spike's enticingly soft bed, her equally tired and naked man wrapping his arms around her to keep her close until she'd drifted off to sleep.

Now she woke alone.

Despite the fiasco with Natalie using the Hide-A-Key, Winnie padded out of the bedroom without her pyjamas to hunt up her boyfriend. The rhythmic _thud-thud-thud_ coming from the guest room-home gym combo told her despite his protestations and hearty laughter at the Goose, he wasn't over the day's events. She walked quietly to the doorway, took a moment to appreciate him; Michelangelo David Scarletti did indeed have a sexy body worth admiring. He was barefoot and shirtless, wearing only a pair of tight black jockey shorts that showed off more of his fabulous body. He had taped his knuckles and was steadily beating on his weighted punching bag. The sweat he'd worked up glistened on his shoulders, made Winnie feel a little wet and shiny for him herself.

'Mike?'

He didn't turn around when she called his name, so she walked closer, saw he was listening to his iPod so Winnie threw the towel he'd tossed on his treadmill at him to get his attention. It landed on his head, had the desired effect - he stopped, steadied the bag before he turned around and smiled gently at her.

'Did I wake you, sweetie?'

'No, I woke up myself and you weren't there.'

Spike nodded, saw the purpling bruise on her face. 'Do you need a Tylenol?'

'My face is fine, but if you're pressing it, Alomar's is open until two-thirty and a Star-Trek themed slushie might make me feel better.'

'I still can't believe that asshole-' Spike turned back to his weighted bag, gave it a hefty right hook '-slapped you. It's degrading and insulting and-'

'Mike, I think you're upset by this more than me. I'm not a stranger to field work, I've got my share of bumps and bruises and that one unfortunate incident where I was bit on the boob by a duck.'

'It's not that, it's...I'm your boyfriend, your _man_-' he took another swing, this one a left uppercut '-and I had to swallow back every instinct I had to keep myself from putting that asshole on his shit-for-brains butt for putting his hands on you.'

'Mike-'

'No, Winnie, I get this one. I get to feel the way I feel with no mollifying or quiet therapeutic words. If that's what I wanted, I'd talk to the SRU shrink.'

She nodded, knowing what he really meant. 'Would it help, then, if I told you that beat the everlasting snot out of that boxing bag is getting me seriously turned on?'

'Immensely.' But when Spike turned back to the bag, then back to Winnie stark naked from head to foot he only shook his head. 'I've got something better though.'

'Hot sex, the dirty and just a little rough kind?'

'Better.'

Spike toweled himself off, thought about grabbing a shower. Instead he grabbed her hand and led her back to his room where he stripped off his shorts and tumbled them to the bed. 'Winnie, if you want it rough just say so but I don't think either of us would feel good about that tomorrow morning.'

'No, I don't think we would.' Winnie shook her head as she breathed it out. 'Whatever you need, I'm here.'

Spike caressed her cheek where the bruise was still an angry dark purple, laid his lips against her tender skin. 'Let me...'

'Yes.'

He closed his eyes as he kissed her, finished off the thought in his mind that he was so desperate to tell her. _Let me love you._


	36. Erotica

_Hello all! Okay this one is definitely NSFW! _

* * *

It was Thursday night and Winnie felt like a little girl as she watched the Angels try to cut down the four-one lead the Jays had over their west coast hosts. The next day was her birthday, the most magical day of the year, even more than Christmas for her. September twenty-fifth was _her_ day, it was all hers and nothing and no-one would ruin it for her.

There was only one year where it had completely sucked and that had been when Winnie was in her undergrad; that had involved her boyfriend going down on her despite her protestations she'd felt disgusting and then him losing his shit when she got her period as she was achieving her orgasm. That was far and away the most disgusting experience she'd ever had, and she'd beaten Spike with one of his goose-down pillows when he'd almost fallen out of bed laughing at her.

But as she'd gone through that nasty bit of business a week and a half before, Winnie knew herself well and knew that her body was in its 'only my very manly man' phase which meant there would be most excellent birthday sex. She would be treating herself to some seriously hot lingerie so that she would be a yummy chocolaty treat for Spike after the birthday party he'd plan for her.

That was definitely a first - a boyfriend planning a party for her without Winnie knowing what said event was. In university, she'd always planned surprise parties for her friends and always planned her own, it would have been rather obvious if she wasn't included in the scheming of a birthday fete. Winnie could suspect who the key players would be but she wondered who else might be invited beyond Team One. Maybe some of her university friends? Unlikely, since the majority of her girlfriends were other female cops. Her mother definitely not - this was the kids' night, as it were - and also a no for Pietr, Rachel and Aaron as they were hosting a family dinner to equally celebrate Aaron's completion of the 5 kilometre Terry Fox Run on the twenty-sixth.

'And why are you worrying about things like that right now?' she asked herself aloud as the game went to a short commercial break and decided it was time for some pre-midnight ice cream. 'It's a party that your boyfriend is planning for you, because he loves you and we're both just too chicken shit to say it.'

Winnie stopped as she opened her fridge, saw the photo of the two of them from the weekend at the Lane cottage; the way she was smiling at him, the way Spike smiled at her made her giggle. Of course he loved her, it was there on his face. Winnie closed her eyes, let herself think of how hot and dirty things had gotten that night. Too bad her man was on nights or else they would be watching something from the shelf labeled _Me-Time_ to get him in the mood. Ah well, what was wrong with getting a little head start? Maybe she might see some cute-but-trashy lingerie in one of them, it might give her some ideas for something to stash away for a special occasion with Spike. Like that trip to Italy they were planning; maybe they could have a little afternoon delight in some by-the-hour motel between the airport and the vineyard where his cousins lived.

When her phone began to ring, she groaned a little. 'Why do you have to interrupt my fantasies?' she whined, then changed her tune as she saw it was her sexy man calling. With a little grin, she picked up using what she liked to call her burlesque voice, low and sultry and dripping with innuendo.

'Well hello Constable, do you want to come over and interrogate me? I should warn you the radiator is broken in my apartment so I'm eating ice cream while wearing a nice...little...lacy...nightie that hardly covers anything up.'

Winnie giggled when she heard Spike swallow audibly as she pictured the expression on his face. 'Really,' was all he said.

'Why don't you come home see for yourself?'

'I'll be there in seven hours, birthday girl?'

Winnie glanced over at the clock on her oven, grinned - Spike was right, it was twelve-oh-one; she was officially the birthday girl. 'Still think I'm sexy now that I'm thirty-four?'

'That just means you've got another year of experience,' he replied.

'Nicely handled. What are you really doing?'

'Eating ice cream in my nightie, although it isn't lacy and tiny, it's the purple cotton one that says Toad-ally Not a Morning Person with the sleepy frogs.' Winnie opened her freezer, made sure she stuck her face in for a few extra seconds to cool her hormones off for a moment or two. 'Ooo, should I have the triple chocolate, the salty caramel or the raspberry poppy seed?'

'Raspberry poppy seed, that way you won't have sugar-mouth in the morning.'

'Good call.'

Spike shifted a little in his seat, glad he was making this call while he was alone in the vehicle while he waited for Sam to finish getting their coffees at Tim Hortons. 'Are you out of bowls and licking it off your fingers?'

'No, just digging the spoon into the carton. Why?'

'Remember what we tried with the tiramisu?'

'Oh yeah.' Winnie breathed it out on a fond sigh. 'That was fun.'

'Maybe I should pick something up for your birthday breakfast to try that since I'll just be getting off.'

'I won't touch that one, babe,' she laughed. 'It's too easy.'

'You're filthy,' Spike said with total love in his voice, then saw Sam leaving the coffee shop. 'Gotta run, birthday girl, I'll see you soon.'

'Bye.'

* * *

Getting through shift that night was absolute agony for Spike, and not just for the fantasies he kept concocting about what his girlfriend was doing on her own time tonight. There was the fact too that being with Sam had meant that listening to him talk about Jules and the baby meant he was not only being a supportive brother but a guy listening to his bro brag about all the sweet hormone-addled third-trimester sex his wife was giving him.

The moment he'd clocked off, he was in his truck and zipping towards Blue Jay Way without a second glance backwards. Spike knew that meant the rest of the team were probably teasing him behind his back about waking up his girlfriend properly on his birthday but he couldn't argue with them - that was exactly his plan for when he slipped into bed beside Winnie.

Parking in her designated guest space, he headed upstairs with his key to her place, quietly opening the door and shutting it once more, locking it for good measure. He dropped his bag, stripped off his clothes but for his boxers in the bathroom before he headed into the bedroom. For a moment he just smiled, leaning against the door frame as he watched Winnie. She was so beautiful when she slept; it was a natural talent of hers that she could look like she was just closing her eyes while she posed for an invisible camera. She was also wearing the pyjamas of his fantasies - the bedsheets tucked and twisted from her usual tornado spin when she slept alone that let him see she was wearing only a lacy hot pink thong. Her dark hair tumbled down her back in a satiny waterfall, and from this angle, Spike could see one graceful hand tucked neatly in a little fist near her heart.

'I love you so much, Win,' he murmured, then moved to slip into bed so that when she woke she would be in his arms. To his surprise, Spike did not wake her which meant she was probably in a sugar coma from her ice cream a few hours before. He settled her temple against his chest, closed his eyes as he rested against the pillows.

The next thing Spike was aware of was the butterfly touch of Winnie's fingers on his cheek, making his cheeks bunch into a smile. He squinted, let his eyes open fully when he saw the light coming from her bedroom window was gentle and warm.

'Hello sexy man,' she murmured.

'Hey sexy birthday girl,' he replied. 'What time is it?'

'Just after nine. You've only been out for an hour and a half.'

'Oh yeah? You know when I got here?'

'Michelangelo.' Winnie smiled. 'I woke up when you crawled into bed, I saw it on your watch since it was so close to my face.'

Spike glanced at his wrist, saw he'd yet to remove his watch. 'It's a bomb-guy thing,' he scoffed, making Winnie laugh. 'So...how should we start this day off?'

'The best way possible,' Winnie replied, twisting so she was sprawled on top of him. She planted a kiss on him, her tongue tracing over his lips. 'And birthday girl gets what she wants on her special day.'

'Yes she does.' Spike slitted his eyes as he gave her a playful look. Then with lightning quick moves, he flipped them so they were upside down in Winnie's bed, her lush body on display for him. He ran his hands down her sides to her hips, stopping at the band of lace he found there. 'Are you attached to this particular item?'

'Not really, why?'

With a small display of his strength Spike gently gripped the delicate fabric in his hands and shredded it away from her body. He watched her eyes go dark and huge when he tossed it away before he sank down on top of her, his touch feather-light as he kissed her. He felt her hips shift against his, her legs moving so that her body cradle his.

'Spike, do whatever you want to me,' Winnie sighed, 'I just want to feel you with me.'

'Of course, Winona.' Spike kissed her, this time cupping her breasts in his palms as he did so. He saw her eyes glaze over at his attention to her body, and he lowered his head once more to plant a little trail of open mouthed kisses down the side of her neck, tracing down her front until his tongue rasped over the heated peak of her breast.

Winnie moaned lightly in delight. He'd figured that trick out long before they'd first made love, that her right nipple was a particular hot spot for her libido. She arched her back, pressing her palm against the back of his head to keep him there. 'Mike,' she sighed, 'that feels so good, so good.'

She felt herself dampen for him, become wetter as his fingertips brushed her other nipple; it made her moan more deeply, her long legs wrapping around his hips to pull him closer to her most intimate places. He was, without a doubt, the best lover she'd ever had; he was indeed the only lover she'd had, for there had been no one like him before now - they had only been sexual partners. The way he treated her body, taking pleasure from what he made her feel, how he made her tremble and shudder, this was how a lover worshiped on the body of another.

Then his hand streaked down between their bodies, and Winnie felt Spike brush against her trigger. She choked out his name on a gasp of air, her thighs tightening around him. His fingers slipped back and forth, back and forth creating a delicious friction that made her go slick with desire for him. Her lip caught between her teeth when she felt him slip one finger, then two inside her, draw them out slowly.

Spike watched her surrender to his touch; she'd said he could do as he pleased to her and what he wanted was to see her face go lax with lust for him, those liquid brown eyes drawing him into her. 'So beautiful,' he murmured, touching his lips to hers. The lean forward changed his angle and he could hear her breath shorten into little gasps until she was sobbing his name. He felt her clench around his fingers, hips grinding and arching off the bed.

'Mike, I'm so close, so...so...close...so...oh! Oh god yes! Yes, Mike more,' she cried out as the orgasm flooded her senses. Winnie vaguely knew he hadn't even gotten naked entirely, and was nearly delirious with need for him. 'More, baby.'

'Of course, just...'

Spike popped up to strip off his boxers, grabbed a condom from the bedside table; when he turned back he nearly came too soon. Winnie's eyes were closed, her hand slipped down between her thighs where she was gently caressing herself. 'Jesus you look hot, Winona,' he told her, 'but allow me.'

He brushed his hands down her legs, circled her ankle so he could lift it to rest over his shoulder. When he joined himself with her, slipping inside that sweet wet heat, he heard her moan his name, the vowels extended into gloriously long syllables.

'Make it dirty.' Winnie heard her voice, the breathy honey-love quality of it as she lifted her arms above her head. 'From behind, baby.'

Spike nodded, withdrew and had to grind his teeth when his girlfriend rolled languidly to her stomach, arching so her hips thrust up against his. She had no idea what those simple little moves did to him when she was so lost in what her body and soul wanted. With one hand braced on her hip, the other smoothing down her back, Spike thrust himself inside her; the sound of pure, guttural pleasure Winnie made had his head swimming. HE set the pace as she requested of him - down and dirty, alternating quick shallow strokes with long and deep slow ones, until he felt her clench around him, all but screaming his name as she did but he held on until he'd driven her up a second time before he welcomed the oblivion of his own orgasm.

Spent, hell nearly shattered, Winnie actually felt her toes curl into little fists as she sighed his name over and over and over again. She turned her neck, saw he was laying beside her, chest heaving with one hand rsting on his stomach, the other above his head. 'Michelangelo Scarlatti, happy birthday me,' she said with such reverent bliss that it made Spike find the energy to laugh.

'Are you sure it isn't my birthday? The way you turned over to your stomach like that, I was thinking I'm the lucky dog.'

'We're both lucky,' Winnie decided, then turned to lay on her side so she could ogle her boyfriend's very fine ass while he left their bed to deal with the condom. 'It's a good way to start off a new year of my life.'

'I agree,' Spike called out before he shut the bathroom door and Winnie giggled as she stared at the ceiling. Oh, God, she felt good. Good and loose and sexy and loved by a man who was good and smart and sexy she loved right back.

Now if only you could get over yourself and damn well say it, that would be the perfect birthday, she thought.

'So.' Spike strolled back in, comfortable in his body as he flopped back down beside her. 'I'm awake now.'

'I bet.'

'How are we going to spend the next part of your birthday?'

'I'm going to get up and shower, and you...' Winnie scooted closer, planted a sweet kiss on his lips. 'Are going to go get some sleep.'

'No, I'm fine.'

'Really? Don't yawn right now.'

Spike tried with all his might but it was to no avail - his jaw lowered widely in a huge yawn. 'Curse you, Constable Camden.'

'Ooo, cursing the birthday girl whose got relatives in the Carribbean? Not too smart, Constable Scarlatti. Besides I don't want you falling asleep on me later because I have some shopping plans this afternoon and I wanna see your face when I...'

Winnie trailed off, grinned as she saw Spike's eyes had already closed and his breathing had slowed to a sleeping rhythm. 'Sweet dreams, baby,' she murmured, and with a kiss on his brow went about finding a towel.

Twenty minutes later, after indulging in a long hot shower, Winnie was making her traditional birthday breakfast of a gourmet BLT, brie cheese with red pepper jelly and green apples, and French bread grilled with olive oil topped with fresh pineapple. She was just putting the finishing touches on her toast when her phone rang; she grinned at seeing Jules' name.

'Hey mama!'

'Hey birthday girl! You ready for today?'

'Tonight, you mean,' Winnie corrected her absently. 'Party starts whenever Spike says, he's being very mysterious about the whole thing.'

'No, no I mean today. Leah, Sophie and me are taking you out for a proper girls' day for lunch, maybe some mani-pedis and of course picking out something for you to wear to make Spike think it's his birthday.'

Winnie blinked, shook her head. It was still a little rattling to remember that she had female friends from Team One, they weren't just work colleagues anymore. Plus it did sound like exactly what she should be doing on her birthday. 'What time should I be ready?'


	37. Mouth

_Hello everyone! I do apologize for the long-awaited update but between a touch of writer's block, other stories needing my attention, real world life, and hockey playoffs starting this week, it's been a busy time! Here we are! Enjoy!_

* * *

When Winnie arrived at the O&B Canteen on King Street, a short walk from her house, she didn't bother fighting the butterflies doing acrobatics in her stomach. Her girls were taking her out for a proper celebration of her birthday; it made her feel like a princess or better, like a little girl full of magic and wonder once more. Being a cop was a very disilusioning job in terms of human nature, and Winnie loved the moments that let her believe that there was still magic in the world.

Moments like that morning with Spike definitely reminded her of such things, she thought with a little snicker.

She approached the hostess stand, saw the nattily dressed woman with dark curly hair send her a friendly smile. 'Hi, I'm meeting a party here, Jules Callaghan?'

'Yes, of course right this way.'

The hostess led her to a table on the patio; it was a beautiful fall day and not nearly as busy as it had been a week ago when the Toronto International Film Festival had been on which made sitting on the patio much more enjoyable. Spike had surprised Winnie and taken her to the festival, scoring them tickets to some films thanks to one of his myriad cousins who volunteered with the TIFF. They'd even managed to see the preview screening of _Good Business Sense_ with an up-and-coming Welsh actor named Tommy Keane. When they'd watched the film, Winnie had gotten a vibe that the man was going to be a mega-star, just like when she'd watched _Gosford Park_ and got the same star-on-the-rise sensation from watching Clive Owen.

_Focus_ she ordered herself, it was girl time, not time for wandering off thinking about the boyfriend she'd left sleeping like an angel in her bed after their oh so wonderfully hot and dirty birthday morning sex. Winnie prayed it wouldn't be all over her face that Spike had slipped her a little something extra before breakfast and her girlfriends would interpret it as giddiness over her birthday.

When she saw the group of women already at the table waiting for her, Winnie felt as though she were passing through a little silver curtain into a dream world. This was her life now; she'd known that logically for a while now but there was something about this moment, seeing a trio of such diverse women whom she called her friends and who called her their friend back, which seemed to drive that point home.

It was Leah who caught sight of her first, flashing a wide grin to show off her painfully perfect teeth. '_Bonjour belle femme de fête_!'

'Am I late?' Winnie replied as she made the rounds to give Sophie and Jules hugs hello before plunking into the empty seat beside Leah.

'No, no, we got here early so Jules could have a snack before you arrived without feeling embarrassed,' Sophie replied, patting the pregnant woman's shoulder. 'I tried to tell her it's nothing to be embarrassed about but she wouldn't have it.'

'Yeah, I remember when you were pregnant with Issy, you refused to listen to anyone when they told you how pretty you looked,' Leah reminded her while Jules sipped her water.

'I'm so done being pregnant, I've had enough but the little one has to cook a while longer,' she replied, wiggling her toes in her sandals. Thank God she could have stylish but comfy footwear when she was this big.

'Do you know if it's a boy or girl?' Winnie asked, setting her purse down between her feet.

'We do, but we wanna keep it to ourselves since we're having the baby shower for gender specific clothes after he or she arrives,' Jules replied. 'The one that I know the boys are planning for me my last day before I start my leave is for utilities.'

'Utilities?'

'Yeah, like bottles and towels and stockpiling diapers and formula and that stuff,' Jules explained.

'Everyone likes to cuddle and coo over the cute clothes but I'm telling you when I was starting out as a new mom with Clark, I was just as thrilled to get a good sturdy baby tub and a diaper genie as I was to get the little cop costume for his first Hallowe'en,' Sophie said with a wistful, reminiscing smile.

Winnie grinned, thought of the gift she'd told Spike they would spring for. His eyes had popped out of his head when she told him the price, and that it was one of the rare times he'd see her dip into her personal savings account from her father and step-mother. It would be perfect for a boy or a girl, and certainly fell into that utilitarian category of gifts.

'Anyways,' Jules went on, 'we're not here to talk about baby stuff, we're having a girls' lunch for our favourite September baby! Has Spike let slip anything about the party tonight?'

'Not a word, and it's infuriating because the man can hardly keep his mouth shut about anything. Off the job, of course. All I know is that he is taking me to Andolini's for supper tonight since I have my race tomorrow.'

'Yeah, what is this race?' Sophie asked, intrigued. 'Eddie said it's something to do with your brother's school?'

'It's Appleton's annual Terry Fox run. Any student who raises over five hundred dollars gets to invite a family member of their choice to run the five kilometre race or walk the three kilometre casual track,' Winnie explained. 'Aaron raised around six-fifty I think and he was one of the lower end fund-raisers.'

'Man, you weren't kidding when you said that was a richy-rich school,' Leah commented. 'I'd have never guessed that you came from that kind of money.'

'Dad started out as a teller at BMO when he was in high school, worked his way up. He's kinda funny about the way he spends money though,' Winnie commented.

'How so?'

'Well, he isn't cheap but he doesn't piss it away. Perfect example. He drives an oh-seven Mercedes that he got a deal on because it was one of the shuttle cars used for a year at the dealership and then put on sale.'

'That's kinda cool,' Jules commented, then let out a little moan as a waiter went past with several plates of food. 'We're going to order soon, right?'

As Leah's stomach gave a loud rumble, she giggled, 'Yeah, what she said.'

'Sure.'

Winnie opened her menu, let out a little groan. Everything looked so good, but if she was going shopping and racing the next day, no way she could indulge as she wanted to. That would happen tomorrow, when her father and Rachel took her, Spike and Aaron out for a fryer's supper.

She felt a presence hovering near her, glanced to her right and laughed – Leah was leaning over like the bad kid in class who wanted to copy off the brainiac's test answers. 'Can I help you?'

'Just seeing if your menu isn't as tempting as mine to order one of everything.'

'I can assure you they're the same.'

'Hello ladies.'

Winnie glanced up, felt her libido thrum a little. Their waiter was the definition of cute – olive skin, dark curling hair teasing the back of his neck, laser-cut cheekbones to match the laser-green eyes. He was a looker, but he wasn't her Michelangelo, she thought even as she sent him a winning smile.

'Welcome the O&B Canteen, I'm Jacques and I'll be looking after you today. Our soup today is sweet potato and pumpkin, and our salad of the day is spinach and summer berry. We are also featuring our Taste of Thailand menu which includes a pad Thai dish, spring and fresh rolls and our house-made Polynesian coconut custard on the dessert menu.'

He took their drink orders – margaritas all around, one soft for pregnant Jules – before hurrying off; Winnie glanced over, saw all three women looking at his butt.

'Oof, I bet you can bounce a quarter off his ass three feet in the air,' Leah sighed appreciatively. 'Makes me miss my Jean-Miche a lot.'

'How is he?'

'Gone until December fifteenth until his term finishes with Medicins Sans Frontiers. Doctors Without Borders,' she clarified for Sophie and Jules. 'He's been working with Red Cross to establish long-term dental care facilities for children.'

'Wow, that's hot,' Jules breathed. 'How did you meet him, when you were there?'

'Oh, no, it's not my turn for the spotlight, it's Winnie's birthday,' Leah protested, but Winnie held up her hand regally.

'The birthday queen commands her friend to share the story, because the birthday girl gets what she wants for twenty-four hours.'

'Alright,' she laughed, brushed a hand over her short buzz of hair. 'We met when I was working with the Red Cross after the earthquake, but things didn't get serious until he came to Canada about a year after I got back. After that, we decided to try things out long-distance and so far it's worked. He flies in twice a month for four days and we spend as much time together as we can.'

'That's sweet,' Winnie said with a smile. 'And he's a nice guy, he had fun at our little barbecue.'

Sophie wanted to say it was very sweet how Winnie and Spike were already acting like newlyweds settling into the start of their life together but she knew better. She'd gotten an earful of how big a pansy Spike was being and how they could all see how much it was eating him up that he'd yet to tell Winnie how he felt about her.

'You guys should do another thing like that for Thanksgiving. It's impossible to make family plans since we always end up working or on call,' Jules pointed out.

'No can do, Spike and I are spending the weekend with my family in Mississauga.'

Jules sipped her margarita, not missing the kick of tequila at all – she was being kicked plenty by the little one inside her ever-expanding uterus. 'That sounds pretty serious.'

'Well, the first part will be, I mean he's met Dad and Rachel and Aaron.'

'The mother and sister?' Leah ventured.

'You have a sister?' Sophie added on.

'Yeah, Shannon, she's a doctor down in South Carolina but she comes home about once a month to visit our mom, though why I'm not sure since they Skype every damn day.'

'Really?'

'Oh yeah, Panic can hardly function if she doesn't know what Pain is up to.'

'Pain and Panic,' Leah giggled. 'Interesting pet names.'

'Appropriate, though, trust me. I love them but they are just such different personality types than me,' Winnie explained, 'and I'm not wasting my birthday lunch talking about them. New topic, the birthday queen says so.'

'Yes, what are we going shopping for today, something to wear tonight?' Sophie asked, and Jules snickered.

'You mean tonight for the party or the after party for two?'

'Jesus, Jules, you're such a gutter brain!' Winnie exclaimed, a little flustered, which Jules just rolled her eyes at.

'Please, I am seven months pregnant. My brain is soaked in hormones so it's like high school all over again.'

'As it happens, no, I am looking for party clothes.' Winnie paused only a moment. 'I already picked out my after-party attire, and knowing my boyfriend the way I do, he is probably planning to embarrass me with such a gift too.'

'Actually, I know what he got you and you will love it,' Leah reassured her, 'though I have to say it is a lot of fun to see you get all squirmy whenever we bring up the fact that everyone knows you and Spike are like little bunny-rabbits in springtime.'

'Leah!'

'Dude, please,' Jules jumped in, sounding so much like Sam it was almost scary. She pointed her index fingers at the round bump of her belly. 'Imagine being the only girl in a family of four with the only parent being your father, and you have to tell all those country farm boys that you are pregnant.'

'Okay, point but still-'

'On top of which, the reason you two are teased about it so much is because we love watching you get so red.'

'Meanies,' Winnie replied.

'No, that's what friends do because we love to tease you about the embarrassing parts of your life and then compare it to ours.'

Winnie thought back to the conversation she'd had with Spike about wart contests. 'I suppose but still, it's kinda strange isn't it to talk about that stuff so casually?'

'Usually it would be saved for after you've had some drinks at the Goose or Jake's Dilemma, but as that requires waiting and I'm short on patience these days, we get to talk about it now.' Jules rubbed her belly where the baby was booting her in the kidney. 'When's the food getting here?'

'After we order,' Sophie chuckled , then pointed at Winnie, 'and before you say it, your lunch is on me, birthday girl.'

'Oh, Sophie-'

'To be followed up by your mani-pedi at Urban Bliss courtesy of _moi_,' Leah added, with Jules tacking on, 'and a full leg and eyebrow wax and massage on me.'

'And all three of us are going to help you pick out something hot to seduce Spike in so you get the best ever birthday loving,' Sophie finished with a flourishing grin.

'Already got that this morning but-'

'Hang on.' Leah lifted a finger to stop the approaching waiter to take their orders. 'Food can wait. Details please.'

* * *

Winnie stood in front of her bedroom mirror, hoping she didn't look too vain or too worried about the clothes she'd picked out – snug, ass-hugging black pants which were deceptively stretchy along with a turquoise blue top that fell in stylish waves over her breasts. She'd been pampered and polished like the birthday queen she was – after their delectable lunch at O&B, they'd gone for a afternoon of indulgence courtesy of Sophie. All had received manicures, pedicures, ankle-to-forehead body waxing, and full body massage. Winnie had picked out a ridiculously neon shade of cherry pink for her toes while she'd gone with a subtly sophisticated pearly amethyst for her fingers. Spike probably wouldn't notice it until later when he was getting her naked for more birthday fun time but that was fine with Winnie. Things like that were her sexy little secrets, the kind that made her feel pretty and powerful all at once.

'Tell me you are going to be this worried at supper or I will make sure that Bruno force-feeds you the fattiest things on the menu.'

Spike watched his girlfriend, saw the light in her eyes; he knew her eyes well and right now he could see the internal debate lighting them. He adjusted the collar of his shirt, came up behind Winnie to wrap his arms around her waist. 'You are sexy and you know it.'

'Quoting pop songs is cheap but that's not what I'm thinking about right now.'

'No, I know you're worried about how much you can indulge on your birthday without having it bleed over to tomorrow. What time is the race?'

'Aaron's is at twelve thirty, mine is at two.'

'Okay, so we're home at one, sleep until nine-thirty, get a good breakfast, and drive to the park for noon. Done.'

'Mike,' Winnie laughed, 'you're so annoying when you do that.'

'Do what?'

'Point out that I'm worrying for no damn good reason at all.'

'Not for no damn good reason, your reasons for worrying are perfectly understandable. You've got a running meet tomorrow, and it's your birthday so you wanna be indulgent without being stupid about things tonight. But try this on for size - have a little faith in me that you are the most important person in the world to me and when I planned your party and dinner out tonight, your race was my first priority to consider. So.'

Spike spun her around, held her close to his body. 'Tonight, we are gonna have some delicious homemade Italian, then go play with our friends and then you are gonna kick ass at the race tomorrow and make your brother even more proud of you, though somehow I doubt that's possible.'

He kissed her, squeezing her ass soshe would be puled tight against him. He heard her little 'mm' of appreciation when she felt the subtle swell against her body of his mild arousal. 'Better keep that gun holstered until later, Constable,' she murmured against his lips.

'Five bucks says we'll cross a few naughty things off of our hit list later.'

'Five?'

'Too much for you?'

'Not enough,' Winnie replied in mock indignation. 'I'm worth more than a dollar a sexual favour.'

'Yes, you are,' Spike purred back. 'Make fifty?'

'Done. Now let's go eat. You know I'm a fan of Italian sausage.' When he spluttered a little, Winnie gave a throaty chuckle. 'Did I say something?'

'You have such a way with innuendos, Winnie. That's one of your many tricks.'

'Oh, Mike, that fifty is gonna be mine before midnight.'


	38. You Say It's Your Birthday I

_Hello everyone! So Yes I realize it has been some time since I have updated this story but I needed a small break bc this is one of about 4 or 5 writing projects I currently have on the go and it's the longest fan-fic words-per-chapter I am writing - the average length is just shy of 3000 per ch, which I think we can agree is a high rate of output! So here we are! Back in the saddle once more!_

* * *

Andonlini's was quickly becoming one of Winnie's favourite places to go with her boyfriend – there was nowhere else in the city where they were treated like royalty the moment they came in the door.

Tonight, it was as though they were movie stars, for when they arrived through the door Bruno himself was there, making such a fuss that other patrons turned their heads to stop and stare, and murmur questions as to who they might be.

'Michelangelo! And your beautiful principessa.' Bruno gleefully kissed both of Spike's cheeks before giving Winnie the same treatment. 'I'm told today is a very special day, no? The beautiful principessa is celebrating her birthday!'

'We are indeed celebrating her birthday,' Spike agreed with a proud mile-wide grin. 'She is the big three-four today and racing a five kilometre run tomorrow.'

'Ah yes, the big race for the charity is tomorrow. Hence the special menu.' Bruno winked in conspiracy, then took Winnie's arm to loop it through his to lead them to their table.

When they walked up a flight of stairs near the entrance to the lavatories and the kitchen's expediting pass, Winnie turned back to glance at Spike in bafflement. 'What is this?' she mouthed to him.

'Here we are.'

Bruno shoved the door open and Winnie let out a little gasp. They'd been given the best seat in the whole bistro – the rooftop terrace just for them. There was a single table for two set with candles, and a bottle of wine breathing already for them; a nattily dressed waiter was standing at attention, a white cloth draped over his arm, ready to be at their service. Candles were placed strategically around the patio so the flames danced like little golden ushers of twilight, and the air smelled deliciously of fresh greenery.

Spike felt his heart swell with love as Winnie turned to him, eyes bright and shining. 'You did all this for me?' she asked in that whispery way that told him she was perilously close to tears.

'Only the best for my Winona.'

'That means the food too.' Bruno ushered them over to the table, snapped his fingers twice to alert the waiter. He zipped over as Spike pulled Winnie's chair out for her, kissing her cheek as she sat down. 'Tonio will be taking care of you, whatever you need tonight.'

'Okay,' was all Winnie could come up with; she really did feel like a princess with treatment like this. She looked out over the rooftops of the city, saw the moving lights of cars in the distances, the flutter and coo of pigeons from the neighbouring building. When she turned back to look at Spike she gave him a tender smile. 'Mike, this is way too much.'

'No it is. You look amazing.' And she really did, Spike thought, like a lush fantasy created just for him. He felt his heart knock hard against his ribs as he let his gaze wander over her. 'You look all...fresh and juicy, like you stepped off the pages of a magazine or something.'

'The girls took me for lunch and a pampering afternoon,' Winnie replied, loving the way he openly admired her. It made those moments when she felt gross and disgusting totally worth it. 'I've been buffed, polished and waxed from head to toe.'

'Waxed?' Spike asked with the arch of his eyebrow.

'Oh, don't worry babe, I remember what you said back in the summer and I told the technician that too.'

'Good.'

Winnie caught the look in his eyes, leaned forward. 'They used this stuff on my skin so make it all soft. I told them you really like the scent of shea butter on me so when I got my full...body...massage-' she drew the words out, lingering on the syllables just to drive him wild '-I made sure they used the shea butter oil on my skin.'

Visions of Winnie lying naked and oiled up, the essentials just barely covered by pure white cotton, had Spike fighting to keep all the blood north of his belt. There would be plenty of time later for birthday banging, and he had a very naughty idea he was certain would turn her on like never before in their relationship.

'You are such a tease, Winona.' He inched over, gave her a long slow kiss then added on a husky whisper, 'I like it very much.'

The butterflies she always felt whenever he did things like that began flapping maniacally in her chest, and she returned his long slow kiss with a sultry smile. 'Same to you, Mike.'

'How am I a tease?'

'Because we're in public and you kiss me like that, it makes me feel like we shouldn't wait to go home to finish it off.'

Spike only winked at her and reached for the bottle of wine, poured them a glass as their server returned with the antipasti course. He'd picked the menu himself and was rewarded with the delighted look on Winnie's face as she saw the offerings - slices of melon wrapped in prosciutto, bread topped with tomato and mozzarella, olives stuffed with pesto, and a selection of grilled seafood brushed with a herb-and-garlic oil. Winnie may have loved good food but she took care of her body and was very conscientious of what she ingested. Someone who was that considerate of herself deserved the same respect from the man who loved her.

Winnie grinned as she gave her napkin a sharp snap before reaching over to select a few items to add to her plate. 'You know, I'm glad we're comfortable enough around each other that we can have something as date-unfriendly as garlic bread and still think the other one is sexy,' she laughed.

'Winnie, we ate pizza on our first date,' Spike reminded her, bypassing the olives in favour of the shrimp and calamari, 'and then we went to bed together that night and were making out before we fell asleep.'

'Ah, memories.'

Spike grinned, then made a remembering noise as he chewed. 'Oh, by the way. December fourth to the eighteenth. Make sure you bank as much overtime as you can before then.'

'Why?'

'Visiting my ma and company in Italy.'

'Oh.' Winnie swallowed her mouthful of tomatoes and cheese as she felt the swoop in her stomach. 'I thought we were leaving the seventh?'

'Nope.' Spike shook his head. 'First Monday morning in December.'

'Ah, okay, I did have that booked, I just thought it was the seventh,' she laughed, then sipped her wine. 'Mmm, this is really good. Where is this from?'

'The 'black sheep' farm. It's the family vineyard on my mother's side,' Spike replied proudly. 'That's the stuff we'll be drinking every night when we go.'

'More please.' Winnie held out her glass, then pouted when Spike shook his head no. 'I'm a big girl, why not?'

'This isn't the kind of stuff to get buzzed on and trust me you won't want to be buzzed until after we get to your party tonight.'

'Which is where?'

Spike chewed down the last of his calamari, winked at her. 'A surprise location.'

'Damn it. I thought you bomb guys were supposed to be fountains of information.'

'Yes we are, on the job. Besides-' he reached over and tugged the end of her silky hair '-it's fun to tease you because you look so damn cute when you pout like this.'

'Well you look very cute when you are baffled by my lack of kitchen technology.'

'Who doesn't own a microwave?' Spike exploded on a laugh. 'Or a coffee maker?'

'Me,' Winnie replied with such simple sweetness that Spike cracked up once more.

'God you're adorable. Tell me about the case you had yesterday with Team Two, the guy with the birds. I've been dying to hear about that one.'

They sat together, talking about the ins and outs of their work week - totally opposite schedules this two-week block had meant little time to see each other like regular adults - while they feasted on minestrone, spinach lasagne, and because it was Winnie, a dessert of raspberry sorbet with a hazelnut biscotti and one more glass of wine.

By the time the bill was paid Winnie realized she did indeed have a man who understood her perfectly - she'd gotten to indulge for her birthday dinner without going overboard since she was doing her race the next day, yet she had also eaten enough so that if she wanted a couple of birthday drinks wherever it was that he was taking her for her party, she wouldn't be too daffy off her nut or hungover the next day. A man like that was truly a great find and that he had eyes only for her made Winnie feel like Wonder-Woman.

As he drove them to their mystery location, he couldn't help grinning at Winnie; he could all but see the wheels in her fascinating brain turning like clockwork gears. No wonder he loved her, she was a puzzler just like him. Most people would probably think they had too much in common to make things work, but Spike knew differently, he knew that she had fundamentally different tastes on key things like movies and music and sports than him to keep it interesting on the day to day level. At the heart of it, they wanted the same things: to be good cops and to make sure the other knew how much they loved each other.

Spike was certain his birthday party for her would most definitely be proof of that.

When they stopped at the Goose, Winnie rolled her eyes, stuck out her lower lip. 'The Goose? That's all you got Mister Big Shot Surprise Guy?'

'Oh ye of little faith, Constable,' Spike laughed, opening the door for her, loving the smell of her perfume as she walked past him into the pub. He caught the eye of the manager behind the bar, who gave him a subtle nod. 'That way.'

Winnie looked over, saw a door that was usually closed off whenever they were there for the usual post-shift beer. Gripping Spike's hand, she followed him through, then felt her jaw drop.

'Oh my god!'

The room had been transformed into Winnie-Party Central, with purple and yellow streamers decorating the pool table, the buffet table, even the gift table; the sight of the last one through Winnie for a loop. There was a little mini-stage set up, complete with a TV screen and stereo that meant only one thing.

But more than that were the people - all of Team One, even the Boss, was there along with Wordy and Raf and their dates. They all held glasses of varying contents as they stood around talking; when Shelley caught sight of them she gave a little cheer.

'Hey it's the birthday girl!'

The group turned, almost as one unit and raised the volume of the cheer with everyone coming over to give her hugs. Spike stepped back to let her have the moment of birthday wishes, headed for the bar to grab the bottles of champagne for toasting his girl. By the time she'd made it through the crowd and back to him, the glasses were full and the bartender was helping pass them around.

'Alright, alright, a little toast here so we can get the gooey stuff out of the way.' Spike cleared his throat, waited until everyone had a flute of bubbly. 'I know that there isn't a single life in this room that hasn't been touched by the work of my beautiful Winona Michelle Camden, or by her friendship, or her loving heart. I know that my life hasn't been the same since you walked into it, and I am so thankful for that every day. To Winnie!'

'Happy birthday!'

They clinked glasses, and Spike wasn't surprised to see a little sparkle of tears in Winnie's eyes; he'd learned that despite her sturdy police shell off the clock she was a great big marshmellow at things like this. He knew when Jules had the baby she'd be a total basket case. 'Thank you, Michelangelo,' she murmured, leaning in for a kiss.

'You deserve the best.'

'And that means my own private karaoke party? How the hell did you pull this off?'

'Like any smart man, I asked my woman's best friends so you can thank those lovely ladies over there for saving my chestnuts from the fires of birthday hell, which as you told me is a very real thing.' Spike gave her another kiss and a loving tap on the ass to shoo her off with her friends while he accepted praise from Sam and Ed for his brainstorm.

'You called it right, Spike,' Ed told him with a shake of his head. 'Winnie did not see this one coming.'

'Why karaoke? The first time she came to karaoke with us she was bundle of nerves, like a little baby Bambi or something,' Wordy added.

'Because we were still trying to figure things out and you guys were being the cheesy overbearing parents,' Spike reminded them. 'Keep in mind, I'm the first one of us to really have a girlfriend like this.'

'Like what?' the officers chorused.

'You two have both been married for what, a century? Sam and Jules have always been part of Team One before they were involved, Greg and Marina had their own style. When baby birdie-' Spike pointed at himself with a sheepish grin '-finally got a lady that wasn't Sam's sister you guys turned into a bunch of goofy weirdos.'

'Yeah, we kinda did,' Ed laughed.

'Remember the cellphone incident?'

'Oh yeah, you definitely deserved some payback for that,' Wordy agreed, then wandered off to go find food.

'She's totally worth it though,' Spike told Ed, and the senior officer grinned wider.

'Yeah, nothing like the one who's worth it.'

Across the room, Winnie was deep in conversation when she glanced over her shoulder and saw Spike staring at her, felt that giddy little bubble just like the first time she'd kissed him. Trying to pull her brain back to Jules and Sophie, she made herself catch the tail end of their discussion.

'What do you think Winnie?'

'Huh?'

'Nursery colours.' Jules barely managed to smother the laugh that threatened to bubble up when she saw the dazed look on Winnie's face. 'We are waiting to find out if it's a girl or a boy before adding gender specific decorations.'

'Really?' Winnie finished off the last bit of her champagne, blinked a little. 'Is it really tricky keeping it to yourself, without calling the baby a he or a she around us?'

'Nope, we made a promise to each other that we want to surprise our families. It's one of the last true surprises you can have in a world full of Twitter and Facebook and Spoiler Alerts galore.'

'Fair point.'

'That's why we are having the post-birth baby shower, party, whatever you wanna call it, be all about cute clothes and gender specific gifts. My brothers and my dad are flying in for a visit for that one' Jules sipped her ginger-ale and orange juice, made a noise. 'Speaking of which, heard at the barn you and Spike are planning a little trip.'

'A trip?' Visions of tropical beaches and time away from the stress of the job danced in Sophie's mind. 'What kind of trip?'

'Spike is taking me to Italy to meet his family in December. I'm a little nervous,' Winnie admitted. 'But I guess that's normal, right?'

'Oh yeah, I was freaking out when Ed met my parents the first time,' she agreed. 'Don't worry, they are probably just as nervous to meet you, make sure they don't scare you off.'

'What if they do?' Winnie looked around for more champagne. 'I'm a black woman, more I'm a biracial woman, neither half of which is Italian. And I'm not Catholic either.'

'So? You make him happy, anyone can see that, and you love each other,' Jules pointed out. 'Off a wild hunch, I'd say that means a hell of a lot more than superficial things like skin colour or what church you might get married in.'

'Wow, okay.' Now Winnie's laugh turned obviously edgy. 'How about we get him through meeting my mother and sister at Thanksgiving, before we start throwing those kinds of words around okay?'

Sophie had been a cop's wife long enough to recognize the signs of someone who needed space. 'Okay, for now we can just load up on yummy bites from the buffet, courtesy of these.'

'What?' Winnie's eyes went wide at her friend's finger-wiggle. 'You did the food?'

'Oh yeah, even gave Spike the family rate, and the cake is on me.'

'Where is he?' She whirled away, fought the crowd to find her boyfriend; when she did, she planted a big fat kiss on him. 'Thank you for this, thank you thank you thank you.'

'You're welcome, welcome, welcome,' Spike replied, looping his arm around her hip. 'What do you want to dig into first, the song selection for karaoke, or the buffet?'

'Duh, food first!'

They headed for the table, leaving Wordy to chat with Leah and Raf who just stared after them.

'We still taking bets how long before they announce their engagement?'

'Talk to Sam,' Leah said, 'I've got next Christmas.'


	39. Keep On Running

'So?'

'So...'

Winnie turned her face to kiss Spike's neck as he nuzzled at hers. He was still inside her, both of them sweaty and tangled, and Winnie was certain she still have some of the turquoise silk lingerie hanging off her shoulder or hips or another body part. He'd barely gotten to see it on her, she thought with a little chuckle. 'What do you think, top five?'

'Top five what?'

'Does the very...amazing...very...smoking...hot...' Winnie drawled out the words, kissing soft skin lightly beaded with sweat. 'Birthday sex you just gave me make the cut for the top five times we've been in bed together?'

'Hell yeah,' Spike wheezed out, finding the energy to prop himself to his elbows so he could see her face. The light from his bedroom window spilling across them gave the whole space a beautiful light and shadows look, like some arty film noir set. 'Only two times that top it are the first time we made love and that time we made up on Wordy's birthday.'

'It's higher on the hot scale than when you apologized for Natalie using the spare key?'

'It's a close race but you were wearing silk undies tonight.' Spike gave her a kiss, then stood up to deal with the condom. A small part of him had hoped that this time they would be able to be together just them, no latex barriers between them. When he realized that wouldn't happen, at least tonight, it was a nanosecond of grief as Winnie had wrapped her hand around him and guided him inside her.

Returning to the bedroom, he saw Winnie had tossed what remained of the now tatter silk over with the rest of their clothes from the party that night and had wrapped the bedsheets around her body. 'You are without a doubt the single most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life,' he told her earnestly, slipping into bed to pull her close.

'Really?'

'Hell yeah,' he said again, this time pressing a gentle, tender kiss to her brow before linking fingers with her and turning her so she was spooned against his chest. 'You like your present?'

'I cannot believe you got us tickets for Owl City.'

'It's not until November but I figured that wouldn't matter much to you.'

'Not a chance.' Winnie gave an excited little shimmy. 'They are one of my favourite techno-bands- well, can you call them a band since it's one guy who does all his own synthetics?'

'Excellent question. Guess you'll figure it out when we see the concert.'

'Guess so.'

'What time do you need up tomorrow?' Spike twisted to grab his cellphone so he could set the alarm.

'The race starts at two pm, so let's say ten?'

'Oh, that's gonna feel nice, sleeping so long.'

'Well it's almost two now, so really it'll only be a solid eight hours,' Winnie pointed out, then squawked lightly when he gave her a tap on the head. 'Hey, now beating the birthday girl!'

'Of course not. Fruit and fibre breakfast?'

'Nothing too strong. Last thing you want is digestive issues in the middle of the course.' She wrinkled her nose. 'Gassing while you run just feels so gross.'

'I know.' Spike pursed his lips, thought of something else. 'Whole wheat toast, peanut butter, orange juice?'

'Now we're talking.'

'No, now we're sleeping.'

'Mmm.' Winnie gave a happy languid stretch of her body, rested their linked fingers on the bed between her breasts. 'That sounds good too.'

'See you in the morning.' Spiked closed his eyes, breathed deep her scent so as he drifted into dreamland.

* * *

The following morning, Winnie woke up alone to what she swore was the Mahna-Mahna song from _The Muppets;_ it didn't surprise her to be alone in bed as Spike was invariably awake before her no matter what they'd been up to the night before. Pressing her fingertips to her still-closed eyes she reached blindly at the bedside table for her own cellphone and huffed out a little breath when she saw it was six minutes after ten. Oh yeah, she definitely felt the party this morning and was thankful for the few extra hours she could cram in from getting to sleep in.

Shower and food were the order of the day, a sure fire recipe to wake herself up body and mind. When Winnie opened the bedroom door she wanted to cry in delight. She could smell fresh coffee and bread - Spike wouldn't have just settled for a standard Tim Hortons bagel, nope, of course he would pick up something fancy for her post-birthday bash breakfast. Or post first-party of the bash - the other half of the celebration would be tonight with Aaron, Rachel and her father. They would be taking her out for whatever she wanted, making her feel foolish when her father proudly bragged his was his daughter the cop's birthday and then giggling and snapping photos when the restaurant staff sang one of the monumentally cheesy birthday songs to draw as much attention as they could to her beat-red face.

Naturally her dad would spoil her with some ridiculously overpriced gift, and she would protest, and then he would get all choked up as he told her how proud he was of her. Thinking about it had Winnie laughing, and suddenly away she'd gone to bed completely naked after making love with Spike.

Sitting up, Winnie stretched her arms upward and hit the shower; fifteen minutes later, with legs shaved and hair scrubbed, she was wearing her regular street clothes as she double-checked her packed race bag when Spike came in with his house-line phone in hand.

'Yeah, she just got out of the shower, hang on.' Spike held out the phone to his beloved with a shit-eating grin on his face. 'Your dad wants to talk you.'

'My dad?' Baffled, Winnie took the phone, tucked a damp rope of hair behind her ear. 'Hi Daddy.'

'Hello my princess.' Pietr's voice was cheerful with just a hint of teasing in it. 'Just wanted to make sure you and your man were up and getting ready. Aaron is so excited Spike'Angelo is coming to cheer him on.'

'Daddy, how did you get this number? Mike isn't listed in the Yellow Pages.'

'But he is a Bank of Montreal customer. Easy enough for me to look up his home address and contact information.'

'What a snoop.' Winnie thought of when Spike told her he'd looked up her personnel file. 'Are all the men in my life just as nosy as the women?'

'Yes, we are because we love you,' Pietr replied. 'Did your mother call you yesterday?'

'Yep, she wished me happy birthday and we were talking about food for next weekend when Shannie beeped in so she had to go.'

Winnie heard her father's sigh; she knew he couldn't stand the way her mother always favoured her younger sister but Winnie knew it wasn't so much playing favourites as it was common personalities bonding stronger together. 'Dad's fine,' she told him, 'really, I'm not offended by it. I've been dealing with it too long for it to make me mad anymore.'

'It still bothers me, she is your mother and you are our oldest child. That should mean more than fitting you in like putty into a crack.'

'Okay, Daddy this topic is done.' Now Winnie's voice turned to steel. 'I don't want my birthday part two turning into some bitch fest about Mom, okay?'

'Whatever birthday girl wants birthday girl gets,' Pietr agreed. 'What time are you leaving?'

'Around eleven thirty, just to hedge our bets in case there's traffic.'

'Good. We'll meet at Rachel's office, take one car over to the school and then out for dinner. Easier all around.'

'Okay, see you soon.'

Winnie hung up, glanced up at Spike. 'What?'

'Just thinking how your dad is like some Dutch-Caribbean version of James Bond or something.' But their conversation did raise a concern of his. 'Did your mom really do that when you two were talking yesterday?'

'What, cut me off to talk to my sister? Of course. It's only my birthday and she had to be evacuated in Charleston since South Carolina was issued hurricane warnings throughout the state. I get it but it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. Anyways.'

Winnie turned back to her bag, sending the message to Spike loud and clear - now was not the time to be discussing what was clearly a deeply rooted family issue. He watched her pull it back, as he'd seen her do on the job when she was feeling the pinch of personal upset. She looked over at him and the smile on her face combined with the flash of lingering hurt in her eyes very nearly broke his heart.

Crossing to her, he wrapped his arms around her from behind, kissed the back of her neck. 'Did I ever tell you the story of my first time getting drunk on my birthday?'

'No.'

'I was eighteen and the night of the cast party for my high school play. I wasn't a goodie goodie but I wasn't exactly a party boy and I worked saving for university and the academy so I didn't go out a lot for drinking reasons. We'd done a production of Aresnic and Old Lace-'

'Let me guess, you were in charge of brewing up the potions for the actors made to look like their ingesting poison?'

'Bingo.' Spike turned her around in his arms, just held onto her. 'So the night of the cast party, all my friends decided to get me just loaded. Beer, tequila shooters and rum shooters gave me a night so good I remembered it only through photos. I had to sleep it off at my friend's house and I woke up in a bath-tub with some girl's number on my arm and a tie around my head.'

'Sounds like quite the night.'

'It was. And the best part is we've now got some awesome stories of our own like that for your birthday too.'

Winnie smiled, gave him a kiss. He always knew just what to say, what to do to make her feel like herself once more. 'But we aren't telling Dad and Rachel and Aaron about that turquoise silk nightie you got me, are we?'

'Not a chance in hell. Some things are just for us.'

* * *

The wind was rushing over her skin, sweet and warm without being sharp. For a moment Winnie wanted to close her eyes but she knew that would be disastrous on a flat-course like this. She loved that the school was near the lake, and they'd gotten a great day for the run. She knew she wouldn't be winning any medals as a top-three finisher, but she knew she wouldn't be dead last either. Despite the injury keeping her at the desk of SRU instead of a permanent place on a field team she would still be able to clock a five-km run under thirty minutes. Thank God Spike had goaded her into remembering her sunglasses too; despite being near the lake, they were on the wrong side of the street to catch any kind of shade while running. This way she wouldn't be looking like she was ready to cry when she really just had sun in her eyes.

The voice on her iPod told her she had just completed two kilometres in eleven minutes and forty-five seconds, which had Winnie grinning. Drinks be damned, she was kicking ass today, she thought as she crested the short hill before the long straight-away stretch near Lakeshore. She dragged the back of her wrist over her brow to clear away sweat threatening to run into her eyes when she saw the bright poster board signs being waved like maniacs just ahead of her on the wide grassy strip between the curb and the sidewalk. The other spectators were staring at them like they had lost their minds, leaving Winnie to wonder what lucky running-partner was so blessed to have such enthusiastic fans.

As she drew closer, she realized the lucky runner was herself - every member of Team One was there, along with their spouses or partners, and the retina-scorching neon posters were being waved by Spike, Clarke, Dean and Issy, while Rachel, Sam and Jules actually waved fluffy pompoms and Ed and Pietr held up cameras for both still and moving picture capture. She flashed them a big smile and thumbs up as she went past, accepting the paper cup of water on the run. She downed it, spluttering only a little - thank god she was in the habit of drinking from her open-top water bottle while running full-tilt on the treadmill in the SRU gym - before continuing the route.

By the time she made it to the finish line, having looped back past her fan club once more, whom she was certain were getting weird looks from the others around them, Winnie was equally thrilled and exhausted as she crossed the finish line. She walked down the corridor set up by the race-ropes so that she would be able to have a small cool-down before she was released into the wild, as it were. She'd downed the entire half-litre water bottle given to her by a volunteer and was just looking around for everyone when she felt small, strong arms wrap around her from behind. Turning around she wasn't at all surprised to see her brother there, grinning from ear to ear.

'You did it Winnie! You were so awesome!'

'So were you, big man!' Winnie made an 'mmm' sound as she hugged Aaron back. 'Where are the rest of the crazies?'

'They're waiting for us over by the pavillion. What did you think of the signs?'

'I thought they were great.'

Aaron grinned up at his sister. 'It was Spike's idea.'

'Really.'

'Yeah, he said he wanted to surprise you with your own fan club. Some shit-'

'Aaron.'

'Some _stuff_-' he stuck his tongue out at her as they walked over with Aaron leading the way '-about you wanting to feel like part of the team. Aren't you part of SRU already?'

'I'm a dispatcher which means I'm usually at the desk on tech and research, not charging into a building with a gun drawn. The incident with Wallis Stone is the exception,' Winnie added, knowing exactly what he was thinking of. 'But that's not the point.'

'Yeah the point is that he's a cool dude and he loves you.'

The sing-song note in Aaron's voice had the arm Winnie had draped across his shoulders tightening into a headlock. 'That may be true but we haven't said it yet,' she hissed in his ear, while Aaron batted at her hand.

'Alright, alright. Jeez, you'd think after a night of partying you'd be a little more mellow,' he protested, the raised his voice when he saw Spike. 'Dude!'

'Hey, there's our superstars!' Spike bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing - Winnie took great pride in keeping her appearance polished when she was out in public whether she was on the job or not. To see her looking so disheveled was not only uncommon for her but also entirely hilarious. It was like one of those old-timey cartoons where the hilariously outgunnned Wile E Coyote was literally spinning in circles until he had little lines of fuzz sticking out at right angles to his head. 'Winona you are a sight.'

'I know, I'm a mess,' she laughed, patting at the bandana covering her pony-tailed head. 'How did you get all this organized? Haven't you been on some seriously intense calls?'

'I know a guy,' Spike replied in his best wise-guy voice, which made Winnie snicker.

'Smart-ass. Mmf!'

Winnie could only make a noise of protest when Spike planted his lips on hers. 'What the hell are you doing? My parents are here, not to mention all of Team One.'

'Winnie, they know we're consenting adults with a romantic relationship,' he winked at her, 'but okay, okay. You're still the birthday girl so you get your way until tomorrow morning.'

'Thank you.'

Spike gave her butt a little tap to send her forward into the congratulations waiting for her from the rest of Team One, then looked at Aaron. 'Come here you.'

He dragged the boy into a friendly headlock much like Winnie had. 'Did you spoil my surprise for Winnie tonight at dinner?'

'What, I look like a damn snitch?' Aaron waited for the reprimand, then grinned when Spike let out a little breath. 'Man, I hope I meet a girl like that some day.'

'Like what?'

'Like the kind who puts such a dopey look on your face when you look at my sister.' Aaron puffed up his nearly fourteen-year-old chest. 'You ever hurt her though, I know people too.'

'Oh I believe you do. You're smart enough to text your sister during a crisis, you're smart enough to have my ass taken care of. I do have an important question though.'

'Yeah?'

'Where do you think Winnie wants to go for her birthday supper?'


	40. You Say It's Your Birthday II

Once she'd showered and changed at the school, Winnie had insisted they go out for supper; upon arrival at her choice of eatery, Spike had to shake his head at her choice.

'Why am I not surprised?'

She grinned at Spike as Pietr pulled the CR-V to a stop in front of Tostada Al Forno, a neighbourhood casual chain that promised the most unique pizza and nachos under the same roof.

'What?'

'Nothing, I just should have known that you would pick out something as incongruous as this.'

'Aw, come on Spike.' Rachel turned around from her spot in the front seat to smile at him. 'You haven't lived until you've tried spicy pirogi pizza or deep fried cheddar jalapeño ravioli.'

'I like the sound of that second one, very promising.'

The group of five headed inside where Pietr had already called ahead for a table and with good reason, it appeared to Spike as the place was jammed with other couples and families. They were shown to what the hostess had called a 'hot-tub booth', which meant a corner booth tucked into a half-circle so they could have a more intimate feel.

Spike slipped in beside Winnie so he was sitting on the outside edge of the half-circle; after a round of beers and a ginger-beer for Aaron was ordered along with the promised fried ravioli Pietr looked at Rachel and Aaron.

'Perhaps the gifts would best come now before we gorge ourselves on birthday treats, Winona?'

'Sure Daddy.'

Winnie felt a little bubble of thrill when Aaron passed her a sister card, inside which she found an iTunes card. 'Thanks so much bro, I know exactly what I am going to use this for.'

'Let me guess, some weird-ass old-timey mystery book?'

'Aaron,' Rachel admonished him lightly.

'Nope, I'm using it for the director's cut of Avatar. That'll help eat up some of the airplane trip to Italy.'

'Italy?' Pietr perked up at the word.

'We're going in December to visit my family.' Spike laced his fingers through with Winnie's, gave her a reassuring squeeze – he knew how anxious she was about the trip, in more than one way. 'It's an eight-hour flight to Rome and I know Winnie isn't an easy flyer.'

'No, I dare she isn't,' Pietr murmured, catching the look that passed between his daughter and her young man. 'When we go to the Caribbean, Winnie is always the first one to have a drink. She's usually sobered up by the time the plane lands.'

'Remember the time she threw up on the customs agent's desk?' Aaron giggled, which had Winnie going red and Spike's curiosity piqued

'No, I don't, he replied. This was why he enjoyed family get-togethers so much. There were always the warts-and-all stories that came out as a result. 'But I would love to hear it.'

'So we're going to Aruba to visit Opi and Omi over my March break last year,' Aaron started, then shot his mother a look when Rachel glared at him. 'What? It's a funny story!'

'Yes and I highly doubt your sister wants you embarrassing her like this in front of her boyfriend at her birthday dinner.'

'Oh, God, Rach,' Winnie moaned lightly. 'You know these two-' she wiggled her thumb on either side of her body to indicated the eager-beaver faces of Spike and Aaron '-will have no peace until they both get their way.'

'So, visiting Omi and Opi in Aruba,' Spike prompted Aaron, making the boy grin fiercely with pride.

'And we were flying through a blizzard over Pennsylvania, so we had some nasty turbulence and Winnie was drinking those little plane bottles of whiskey, I think it was, right Winnie?'

'It was Polish vodka,' she muttered, perusing her menu like she was above all her antics.

'Right, so Winnie had like three or four of those, so she was all, y'know wooooo.' Aaron waved his arms like they were loose spaghetti flapping in the wind. 'She was all sweaty and pale when we were on the plane but when we landed she said she was fine. When we got to the customs desk, the officer asked her if she was feeling okay and the next thing you know-'

Aaron made a vomiting sound, cracking Spike up. 'All that vodka made an encore.'

'Oh, man, Aaron. That is good to know for my own sanity in a month and a half.'

'Really?' Winnie looked at him, eyes glinting. 'Aaron, you wanna go this route, start telling stories? Because I could think of a few for you, mein broder.'

'Nach,' Aaron replied, then elbowed his mother. Give her the thing, Mom.'

Rachel had to swallow the chuckle, as her energy was focused on the vibe radiating from Winnie and Spike. She wondered if the young woman knew just how happy she was with Spike, which made the giving of her gift all the more sweet

'I think you two might find this useful, then,' she told them, passing Winnie a card.

Winnie ripped into the envelope like it held the secrets of the universe, opened it to find two blank vouchers for Air Canada. 'Rachel, this is too much,' she protested.

'Nonsense. I know how stressful your job is, I know it means that when you want to go on vacation you need the time away from it all to get that down time.'

'This is fantastic, thank you so much,' Winnie replied, deeply grateful for her thoughtfulness. Then it clicked – she looked at her father, felt her stomach bounce. 'Oh, Daddy, don't tell me.'

'Tell you what your birthday gift is? Wouldn't dream of it girl.'

Spike was fairly certain if he could have gotten away with it, Pietr would have been whistling innocently in that moment; he was sure the only reason he wasn't doing so was because it was going to make him look even more guilty than he already appeared to be.

Winnie tore open the card with the same fervent enthusiasm as she had Rachel and Aaron's gifts; she wiggled little an excited little puppy when she saw the gift card for Expedia. There was no dollar value listed on it, but knowing her father, it would be high because he always liked to indulge her love of travel when her own budget was strained from living in downtown Toronto.

'Daddy, you're horrible,' she told him, reaching across the table to grasp his hand.

'I love you too, sweetie, and I'm so proud of you.'

'Food!'

Winnie looked at her brother, who could always be counted on to ensure a moment didn't move from touching to gooey, then at the platter arriving before them. She looked at Spike, then blinked when he set a little box down in front of her. A jeweler's box with a purple ribbon wrapped around it, ending in a fluffy little bow. 'What's this?' She asked, genuinely confused. 'I thought you already gave me my gift last night.'

'Ew!'

'Aaron!' Now it was Spike's turn to be mildly embarrassed before remembering the kid was sharp as a tack and nearly fourteen years old. Of course the young man's hormone addled brain would go there. 'Not cool, dude.'

'He got my concert tickets for Owl City,' Winnie informed her family, which had Aaron unscrewing his zombie-face expression. 'We're going when they come to the ACC in November.'

'That's very sweet,' Rachel said, then bit her lip when she saw Spike gently poke the box in Winnie's direction.

'Open up, open up.'

'Alright, alright!'

Winnie tugged the ribbon loose, lifted the lid and found herself sighing in delight. 'Oh Mike, it's beautiful.'

She lifted up the delicate white-gold chain to show off the dangling little turtle pendant. A glance up at him told her he was thinking of the same thing – their first call together on Team One where Winnie had talked down the young woman from the roof of the Yorkdale movie theatre. The young man who had since become her boyfriend had referred to her as his turtle, tough on the outside to hide their warm and soft centre.

Without a word Winnie held it out to him, then held up her hair from her neck so Spike could fasten the almost hair-thin necklace around her throat. Once there, she gave it a little pat before turning to him and giving him a big kiss.

'I love it,' she told him.

'I figured you would.' Spike pecked her lips once more, then gave her hand a pat as he dropped his chin on her shoulder. 'What's good here?'

'Everything,' she replied, as she knew this game well with him by now. 'But I would recommend you try one of the wild pizzas, like the Tricolore.'

'What's on that?'

Roasted red peppers, Roquefort cheese and a creamy garlic sauce. Red white and blue.'

'Nah, I don't like bleu cheese. What else you got?'

'Well I'm getting the spicy pirogi pizza which has jalapeño spiced sour cream as the base, then cheddar and provolone cheese, green onion, bacon and mashed potatoes on top.'

'Really? We just had Italian last night.'

'What can I say,' Winnie told him with a pat on his hand. 'I'm a fan.'

'Funny girl.'

'Funny birthday girl. What about this one, the mean drunk chicken. Shredded jerk chicken with Jamaican rum barbecue sauce.'

Spike felt the little pang in his belly as he thought of drinking rum ounch on the beach at Ocho Rios with Lou, shook his head. 'Nah, not feeling that either.'

'Alright.' Winnie scanned the menu, knowing her father would pick the mean-drunk ribs with spinach salad, Rachel would have a Stromboli and her brother would go for loaded nachos. Absently she reached for one of the ravioli she'd put on her plate, dipped it into the creamy house ranch sauce. 'That leaves us with the butter chicken pizza or the Top Chef Canada pizza.'

'Butter chicken pizza?'

'Yeah, it's butter sauce as the base with equally sauced chicken, peppers, onions, and haloom cheese all on a naan bread crust, topped with fresh parsley and a dash of fresh basil.'

'That.' Spike stabbed his finger at the menu, shook it lightly. 'Let's split that one.'

'You are a brave soul.'

The waiter came back, and they placed their order; once done, Spike picked up his glass of beer turned towards Aaron. 'So, what other embarrassing stories can you tell me about Winnie, bro?'

* * *

By the time they made it home to Winnie's apartment, bellies full and ears ringing with stories of Winnie from all of her family, Spike was ready for sleep no question. After a day spent mostly in the sun, and then followed up with an off the wall yet surprisingly delicious meal combined with their busy day previously, he was ready for the nice nap he had coming before shift the next day.

'I have to say,' he commented as Winnie put the leftovers from both pizza and dessert into the fridge before she joined him on her couch, 'your family knows how to throw down some serious fun.'

'Good, I'm glad.'

Spike caught the cautious tone she used, gave her a look as she cozied up beside him. 'What did they leave out?'

'Huh?'

'Winnie, I know your voice, I've learned to read it as a cop and a profiler for the last five and a half years. What did they leave out?'

'Not leave out...exactly.' Winnie chose her words carefully. 'Just be prepared for a call from my dad this week to remind you of Thanksgiving plans.'

'That's bad because why?'

'We usually do our dinner on the Sunday and have some kind of outdoorsy activity on Saturday.'

'Like football?'

'Like mountain biking followed up with a backyard campfire,' she clarified, knowing that Spike did not usually go in for rugged sports like that as he dealt with the physical on the job day in and day out. 'I know that's not really your bag but-'

'Hey, you know there is a time honoured tradition of the girlfriend's father putting the boyfriend through the paces to see what kind of man he'll make for his little girl. I'd be more concerned if he didn't try something like hat.'

'Oh. Okay then.' Winnie let out her breath she didn't realize she'd been holding in , then scratched her head. 'I suppose then I should warn you about my mom and sister and what dinner will be like on Friday.'

'No.' Spike shook his head, shifted so she was lying on his chest on the couch, his head pillowed by the armrest. 'We've had a great day, we are not gonna end it by thinking about negative things like that, okay?'

'Okay.'

'Not only is it bad karma, it's that much harder to put the moves on you, even though my moves are kinda awesome.'

Winnie shifted her own body so she was straddling him, her breasts pressed against his body as she kissed him. 'Michelangelo, there is no 'kinda' in that sentence. You should know by now you-'

She was interrupted when she heard his stomach gurgled enormously, which made her laugh a little. 'Babe, you cannot be hungry again already, we ordered a large and had three slices each, not to mention dessert.'

'No.' Spike winced as he felt the cramps increase exponentially. He sat up, unceremoniously dumping Winnie to her ass on the opposite end of the couch as he massaged his lower belly. 'No, this is...I'm definitely not hungry.'

'You think it's food poisoning? Because I feel fine.'

'No, I think it's just...not...not...'

Winnie never heard him finish his sentence as he leaped up and darted for her bathroom. She waited, then heard the unmistakeable sound of lower end digestive issues grabbing hold of her man. 'Poor guy,' she thought, heading to the cupboard where she kept her stash of medicines. She found the Imodium and poured him a glass of water, then heard his voice, pitiful and humiliated through the door.

'Win? You have anything for this?'

'Of course I do. Come on out when you feel a little better, I will fix you up,' she called back.

It was nearly fifteen minutes before Spike reappeared, his face long and heavy with embarrassment. 'I opened the window,' he said simply, 'but you may wanna light a match or a candle or something.'

'Noted,' she laughed, then passed him the bottle of pills and his water. 'Here. Take this.'

'You know, most girls would find this more than a little disgusting,' he informed her, swallowing a dose and chasing it with the drink she offered.

'Most girls don't have a boyfriend who would condom wrap their digits so they could finger their girlfriend when she is on her lady days so she could have a relief-inducing orgasm,' Winnie reminded him, 'so not being okay with this would make me a filthy rotten hypocrite.'

'Oh man. What the fuck was in that pizza?'

'You've had Indian food before, haven't you?'

'Yeah, but if I have the choice than I'll usually take Greek or Thai or Middle-Eastern.'

Winnie blinked at him. 'You mean you were just eating that pizza because I recommended it?'

'I wanted to make a good impression on your dad, not being the prissy cop who can handle bombs and explosives but not spicy food.' Spike closed his eyes, leaned forward to brace his hands on the kitchen table. 'Ironic, huh?'

'Michelangelo, you are so sweet, and so very rock-headed. He already likes you, he said so to me.'

'Now you tell me.'

The misery in his voice was so plaintive that Winnie had to clasp her hands together in front of her lips like she was praying silently to keep from laughing at him. No good would come of making him feel worse than he clearly already did.

Instead she went over, gave him a gentle hug that had Spike groaning. 'Careful, you might squish more out of me.'

'Okay, now that is gross,' she laughed, then gave his back a pat. 'Let's get you a nice hot shower and into bed.'

Once in her bedroom, Spike flopped down, curling to his side so that he could curl into himself. Yeah, some big man he was, he scolded himself. 'This should be reversed,' he told Winnie as she slipped in beside him.

'I should be the one with digestive problems?'

'No, I mean you're the birthday girl, you are supposed to be the one with your head in the toilet because you were over the partying edge and I'm the one nursing you back to health.'

'Funny, I thought guys got turned on by the whole sexy nurse fantasy.'

Spike shook his head. 'As someone who has been poked and prodded for many police related injuries I can assure you there is nothing romantic about cold gloved hands or the smell of antiseptic. You smell nice.'

'Thanks, it's that stuff Leah and Jean-Miche gave me, they used it at the spa.'

'Makes me wanna...'

Spike trailed off, pressed his hand to his gut before darting out of bed once more. Winnie just shook her head - it looked like it was going to be another late birthday night, albeit for very different reasons now.


	41. A Woman's Worth

Spike's chest was heaving, sweat pouring down his face as he slowed the pace of the treadmill to cool down from his end of shift workout. Tiring as overnights could be, it was a little bit relieving to know that the Friday of Thanksgiving weekend, he'd scored the Thursday night shift. Then he could get in a quick bit of sleep and be all daisy-fresh to meet the rest of Winnie's family.

He was secretly not-so-proud of the fact he and Winnie once again had nearly opposite schedules the last two weeks, as each day she'd become more and more anxious. Spike was doing his level best to figure out why she constantly referred to her sister and mother as Pain and Panic respectively. Winnie was a successful and independent woman, beautiful, intelligent, rational and reasonable; she'd have to be in order to make a good cop and she was one of the best dispatchers Spike had known in his career. What kind of people could make someone like that so damn scared?

Reaching for his towel, Spike mopped at his face and let out a gusty sigh. Relationships weren't always hot sex and ice cream, they required emotional involvement even when it made the person on the outside feel so squishy. The trick, Spike had learned, was finding the person who was a partner in crime to face things like that. He had no desire to fix all things wrong in her life – well, maybe a little, he was a man after all – but this one...this one had him really stumped.

'Yo, Spike!'

Spike lowered his towel, saw Ed standing in front of his treadmill grinning. 'You all set for another meet the parents weekend, big boy?'

'I am, but I don't think Winnie is, which is really-'

'Weird?' Ed supplied.

'I was going to say stressful but sure, we'll go with weird.' Spike took a glug from his Gatorade. 'It's just completely bonkers how strung out she gets about her mom and sister.'

'Well, every family has their issues so maybe that's hers. I mean, she is a child of adult divorce, and you said that she talks more about Rachel than her real mother.'

'Yeah, she does.' Spike took another drink. 'It just bugs me that there seems to be nothing to do but sit by and watch.'

'Mister Scarlatti.' Despite the fact the man was drenched in perspiration, Ed clapped his hand to Spike's shoulder. 'Get over yourself and tell her.'

'Tell her...'

'If I have to spell it out for you, perhaps you aren't ready for a meet the mother dinner.'

Ed left to attack the weighted bag while Spike hit the locker-room. A quick shower later and he was in his truck on his way to Winnie's place. It was starting to feel a little funny to go to her place, mostly because when they spent nights together they were in his place. But Spike was not a 'my way or the highway' type of lover, and he did love her place. He loved the way it smell, like Winnie's come-hither lotion combined with fresh veggies. Such a different kind of welcome home than when he'd been a grown-up living in his parents' house, when it had always smell of yeasty-dough and tomatoes with red wine.

He used his key to unlock the door, and was a little surprised to see Winnie already up. She wasn't organically a morning person, and Spike knew that she was an insomniac when she was stressed out. He sent her a smile as he tossed his keys on the table, dropped his bag in the hallway.

'Morning, sexy,' he told her, coming over to kiss her; Spike arched an eyebrow as he noted her breakfast choices. 'Fried chicken BLT? Seriously?'

'I wanted comfort food, the hour of the day was incidental,' Winnie replied in such a teenage tone that his other eyebrow went up to make a matched set. 'What? Why are you looking at me like that?'

'Only way I can help is if you tell me what's wrong.'

'Stop profiling me,' Winnie snapped at him, then sighed as she shoved away her plate. 'Not your fault, Mike. I'm just in a bitchy mood. Knowing that I have to waste part of the holiday weekend with Pain and Panic picking me apart and listening to them gossip about things I just don't give a damn about just makes my head hurt to think about.'

'Hey.'

Suddenly concerned about the tired weariness on her face, Spike walked behind her and began to lovingly massage her shoulders. 'Think of it this way. Spending time with the pod people means spending time with your dad and Rachel and Aaron will be that much more fun.'

'Very true.' Winnie smiled, finishing it with a yawn. 'Maybe we can sleep a little more now?'

'Yeah, we can.'

'That's not a metaphor.' She rose, put her plate in the fridge so the food wouldn't spoil, then turned back to Spike and gave him a little kiss on his lips. 'Be glad you got really good and dirty sex last night, because chances are my mother will make us sleep in separate rooms.'

'What?' The laugh bubbled up from Spike's throat instinctively. 'That's ridiculous, Winnie, we're consenting adults in a relationship. Surely she has to know that means we have sex.'

'And she will argue that she is still my mother and her house rules are to be respected. Ironic, since she respects nothing of mine.'

'It'll be fine. You got your mother that lovely gift, you are helping make the small Thanksgiving dinner, you are making the birthday cake for her.'

'I know, I know.'

'So don't worry. Besides...' Spike linked his fingers through hers, drew her close, kissed her in a way that made Winnie's nerves tingle. 'You're forgetting two key things.'

'Oh?'

'One, I'm very charming and two...'

He trailed off as he slipped his hands up underneath Winnie's sleep-tank, grazed the tips of her breasts with the pads of his thumbs, making her shudder. 'There's no law that says we can't have a quick one right now.'

'Mmm, talk dirty to me,' she purred at him with a little giggle underlining her words. It ended on a sigh when he laid his lips to her throat as he did it again. 'Oh, mmm, well I suppose a good healthy orgasm is as good a sedative as any medication.'

'Exactly.'

* * *

After the lovemaking and the nap, the shower and the packing of Spike's truck, the anxious couple headed out from Beverly Street to number forty-nine on Elma Street off Royal York. Spike had done his level best to try and distract Winnie, he'd even played her favourite Daft Punk mixed CD on the truck's radio but nothing took that brace-for-impact expression from her face.

Hoping it would be a smart move, he parked on the street; he remembered hearing Winnie mention her sister would be coming from the airport at some point so her mother would need access to the cute silver CR-V in the narrow driveway. The lawn was neatly trimmed and currently coated in birch and maple leaves from the two trees in the front yard, and there were rust-coloured chrysanthemums overflowing the window-sill flower boxes.

'Oh boy,' Winnie murmured. 'Here we go.'

'Hey.' Spike took her hand, kissed the soft skin. 'It'll be fine.'

'I hope so.'

Winnie hopped out of the truck, grabbed her bag. It had been a while since she'd been here, a couple of months at least. It wasn't that Winnie didn't love her mother, she did, it was just hard to like her person to person some days. She knew the time here with her boyfriend would go one of two ways - either her family would be polite and butter him up and Winnie would look crazy, or they would treat him like an intriguing if slightly unwelcome pet and needle Winnie to death about her career.

Of course there was always magical door number three where they did both.

From around the side of the house came the sound of colourful cursing and Winnie grinned. Her mother was about to make a great first impression and she didn't even know it yet.

'Mom!'

Gabriella Camden looked up from her one-sided tirade and smiled broadly, wild curly hair tucked into a messy ponytail half-sliding out of it elastic. She was clearly dressed in her outside work clothes, and wearing gloves stained green which told Winnie she'd been doing the weed eating. 'Hello, dolly!' she chirped. 'You made it in good time, was there much traffic?'

'No, we left before things on the Gardiner picked up.' Winnie hugged Gabriella tightly, returned the smile. 'Happy birthday!'

'Aw thanks.'

'Did you hear from Shannie already?'

'Yeah, she was just getting ready to leave for the airport around eight. I have to get a shower and leave for Pearson soon.' Gabriella rolled her eyes. 'Fucking holiday traffic will be just awful, and you know the cellphone lot will be full which means paying for parking and it's like thirty bucks an hour.'

'I know it sucks,' Winnie started, then caught her mother simply staring at Spike over her shoulder. 'What?'

'Winnie where are you manners, you need to learn some social graces. Maybe if you didn't spend all your time with cops, you'd have some.'

'I am a cop.'

'A secretary for cops,' Gabriella said pointedly, the corners of her mouth turning down before she beamed in a bright smile at Spike. 'Hi, I'm Gabriella, Winnie's mother. You must be Mike.'

'I am.' Spike took the hand she offered, forced his eyebrows to stay in place; they were here all of ten minutes and she'd already belittled Winnie's personality and her job. That was a special kind of talent. 'Nice meet you, Winnie's said lovely things about you.'

'Aw, how sweet.' The alarm on Gabriella's sport-watch beeped, and she clapped her hands. 'Okay, so get your stuff stashed and then while I'm gone I need you to do a few things for me.'

'Yeah, we'll get the turkey ready and pick up anything Shannie needs-'

'Oh, Winnie, no. I thought I told you we're not doing a turkey this year. I mean, Shannie's a vegetarian and we're having birthday cake later, it just seemed like too much work for such a small group you know?'

'So what are we having?'

'I thought we'd just do like some barbecued burgers, a nice big salad. Nothing too salty since I have to be careful of my blood pressure. Anyways. I need the bags of leaves in the backyard dragged up to the curb, and the backyard needs to be mowed, and if you could make sure the dishwasher is emptied and loaded that would be great.'

'I didn't bring work clothes with me,' Winnie protested, cheeks starting to flame in embarrassment.

'Just borrow something of mine. It's the least you can do since you're spending the holiday weekend with your father and I'd planned to have you here tomorrow to help me out with a few things.'

'Fine, I'll borrow something of yours.'

'There, see? Problem solved.'

Gabriella smiled at Spike once more, then darted inside while leaving her mortified daughter in the driveway. The moment she was inside, he looked at Winnie with eyes round in shock. 'Wow.'

'Tip of the iceberg. Wait until my sister gets here. You're in for some delightful dinner conversation.'

* * *

Spike lay on the narrow, slightly uncomfortable bed as the furnace hummed and droned. He'd already begun to tune it out as he was reading CBC headlines on his phone. It was so weird to know that Winnie was in the house and he was sleeping alone not because of something he'd done wrong for her, like when he'd accidentally eaten the sleeve of cookies she'd safe-guarded for pie-crust crumbs. It was completely fucking ridiculous that her mother was making them sleep in separate rooms. Surely Gabriella had to know her daughter wasn't a virgin; the conversation at supper-time with Shannon had certainly been revealing on their opinions towards pre-marital relations.

Winnie hadn't been kidding about the dinner conversation - after the lectures about the perils of eating meat, especially ground beef, Doctor Shannon Camden had treated them to a lecture about how her job was so stressful as a medical resident before asking Winnie how things were going as a secretary. Winnie had given them a career-diminishing 'fine' before Shannon and Gabriella had continued on with a chat about how an old classmate of Winnie's who had gotten pregnant by her boyfriend which wouldn't have happened if she'd just kept her legs shut. The only way Spike hadn't told them where to stuff their obtusely judgmental holier-than-thou opinions was to finish stuffing his mouth with the completely flavourless burger that more resembled a hockey puck than real food.

Neither had been terribly appreciative of the birthday gift, either - a low-sodium cookbook for Gabriella to ensure she was sticking to her no-salt diet. Gabriella had and Shannie had made polite faces at it, then nearly fallen to pieces when Shannon gave her the first two seasons of _Revenge _on DVD. All Spike could think of was the look on Winnie's face when she'd picked out the book at the Yorkdale Indigo, how happy she'd been to find a gift she'd known her mother would like, as he'd seen the stamp of hurt in her eyes as they'd all but tossed it aside before looking towards the kitchen for cake. Winnie had tried to brush it off but he'd seen it, and it broke his heart.

Turning to his side, Spike flipped from the headlines to his phone's photo gallery, looked up the artistically loving nude photos of Winnie he'd taken. His own private pinup girl, he thought on a laugh. Maybe he could convince her to get a few pictures like that done professionally to frame as artwork in their bedroom. _His_ bedroom, he corrected himself; they weren't at the moving in point yet, as both of them were stubbornly in need of having a private space to crash in, particularly if it had been a tough day on the job.

He turned back at the noise of the door opening - with their luck, that would be Gabriella or Shannon coming in to ensure he slept well and neither would stop to knock before coming in. Spike finished the turn when he saw it was Winnie, her thick fleece robe wrapped around her body.

'Hey,' she whispered. 'Can't be too loud, my sister's room is right above you and there's a vent that's kinda like a drive-thru window there.'

Winnie pointed at the grill on the wall above Spike's head and he nodded. 'Good to know. What's up with the visit? You could get grounded and I wouldn't put it past your mom to actually do that to her thirty-something daughter.'

'I don't care what she says,' she replied with breathless abandon which had him sitting up.

'What's going on?'

'I love you.' Winnie gave a little laugh that ended on a sound perilously close to a sob. 'I love you so much, Michelangelo. No one would have handled my family better than you, and I love you for it, and I love you. It-'

She was cut off when Spike took her face in his hands, pressed his lips hotly against hers,eyes closed and forehead resting against hers. Her heart was racing a mile a minute, so hard she thought it might leap out of her chest and right into his hands.

'I love you right back Winona,' he replied in the same breathless rush, every cell in his body flooded with white hot light. 'Do you know how long I've wanted to say that and been too scared you'd freak out?'

'No, I don't.'

'A while. I've lost count of the reasons why I love you and it doesn't matter because at the end of the day, my heart is yours.'

'Oh, Mike.' Winnie sniffed, trying to keep her eyes dry. 'My Italian poet.'

'Too bad we can't make love now, it feels kinda wrong to not, I don't know, commemorate it or something,' Spike laughed. The sound of it died when Winnie sat back, unbelted her robe. He gasped dramatically as she peeled back the thick fabric. 'You're naked under there!'

'So maybe tonight when you go to Wonderland, you don't ride the Great Canadian Mindbuster, maybe you just play on the Spinovater.'

'I don't even know what that would be,' Spike laughed, suddenly full of euphoric joy.

'How about you take off this-' Winnie plucked at his t-shirt with her forefinger and thumb '-and I'll lie down on top of you with my robe open for a while?'

'I like the sound of that.'

Winnie smiled, kissed him again, and because it was out there now, couldn't resist saying it once more. 'Love you.'

'Love you too.'


	42. I Love What You Do I

'Winnie.'

'Mm.'

'Winnie get up.'

She felt him shake her shoulder gently, and she yawned ferociously. 'Time is it?'

'Just after eight, but you gotta get up and go.' Spike gave her robe a tug. 'You fell asleep here last night.'

Winnie opened her eyes, looked around before she swore ripely. 'Shit, shit, shit, she is gonna freak the fuck out. Both of them will.'

'They cannot seriously believe you are in a sexless relationship,' Spike said incredulously, taking in the sight of her naked body under her robe before she folded it back around herself. His spirit sank a little further when Winnie shook her head.

'Worse. They are waiting for me to pop up saying I'm pregnant and the guy who knocked me up is in the wind, so they can say I told you so, you easy slut.'

'Winona.' Spike swung his legs so he was sitting up on the edge of the bed, and he pulled her close so he could lay his ear on her belly. He loved to do that, there was something so comforting about it for the both of them. 'I'm so sorry, my love. I wish I could fix this for you, I really do.'

'I like that.'

'What, me being your Italian stallion hero?'

'That,' she laughed, 'and you calling me my love. It's so romantic and...sweet.'

'Right now, you need-'

'Shh!' Winnie put her finger to his lips, eyes darting back and forth. A few moments later, Shannon was opening the door and looking right through her sister. 'Don't you people in this house knock?'

'Mom wanted to see if Mike was awake. Clearly, he is,' she added snidely.

'I came down here to ask Mike if he wanted breakfast or a shower first,' Winnie replied smoothly, frost on the edges of her words. 'He told me he wanted breakfast first so I could go ahead and use the shower.

'Huh.'

Shannon, clearly not believing her sister for a red-hot minute, rolled her tongue on the inside of her cheek before looking at Spike. 'We're having pancakes with all the fixings if you're interested. Don't take too long in the shower, Winnie.'

She left, and Winnie waited until she heard the sound of her sister's footsteps on the stairs before flipping her off. 'God she is a pain, but Mom thinks the sun shines out of her ass so what can I do?'

'Remember that they are pod people and your dad is awesome, which means you got your mother's good looks and his personality,' Spike replied, happy to see her laugh. 'What time do we need to hit the road to meet your dad?'

'No later than nine, it's about an hour drive from here to Barrie.'

'Barrie? Are we going to the casino?'

'Nope, my dad texted me last night, said don't come to the house right away, we're driving up to meet him at Molson Park so we can all go to the mountain biking place together.'

'Right.'

'Spike, I know you're not one for a lot of sports that aren't cop training or soccer, but trust me this will be fun. You can have some time to bond with my dad.'

'Or maybe he's just been playing nice all this time, waiting until this weekend so he can kill me and hide the body in the woods.'

Winnie giggled, tugged on his hand to pull him to his feet. 'Daddy already likes you, it's this lot that's the pain in the ass to win over.'

'What do they think of me so far?'

'Hard to tell, since they are so self-involved.'

Spike gave her a kiss, patted her ass. 'It will be fine sweetheart, not to worry. Just remember you've dealt with scarier people before.'

'No on scares me like they do.' Winnie gave him a smile, found herself suddenly choked up. 'Am I a bad daughter?'

'What?'

'Am I a bad daughter, picking one family over the other?'

'Of course not.' Spike shook his head, kissed her lightly as he held her hand and led her towards the stairs. 'I love you, and I don't let myself love easily, despite my Italian poet reputation.'

'You do not have that reputation as a lady-killer that's Sam, and I love you right back.'

'Go get a shower, and think of all the ways we can get dirty.'

'Trust me, that's going to be quite literal in about five hours time.' But Winnie kissed him, and scampered up the stairs, leaving Spike to sigh a little. Now he got it - the Pain and Panic names where not necessarily a reflection of her family's character but how they made her feel about herself. Pained because to them she was a disappointment, and panicked that she could make them proud. No, not that she couldn't make them proud, that she would never be enough of a person just as she was to meet their standards.

Spike suddenly had a whole new level of understanding for Winnie's reason for fried chicken at breakfast and found himself counting the minutes until they were on the road for mountain biking. The idea of getting lost in the woods with Winnie's dad was scaring him less and less.

* * *

'Still nervous?'

'After that night at your mom's, I could take on a herd of Gremlins and come out the winner.'

'Hey now, Gabriella does the best she can.'

Winnie looked up at her father's eyes, catching them in the rear-view mirror of the SUV as they followed the twisting-turning road to Hard-Wood Hills. 'Dad, I know she does but there is something a little ridiculous when you tell your full independent grown-up daughter that she cannot sleep in the same room as her boyfriend.'

'Her house, her rules,' Rachel said easily. 'If Aaron has a girlfriend in high school who wants to spend the night, she sleeps in the guest room, plain and simple.'

'What if she sneaks out,' Spike inquired, intrigued by the unity Pietr and Rachel showed on Winnie's protest. 'Claims she's just going to get a glass of water?'

'My son knows that if he's anything less than a perfect gentleman he won't be around to see the morning after,' she replied without hesitation. 'I brought him into this world, and I can sure as hell take him out.'

'Wow, Mom, you're makng a three-day weekend so much fun,' Aaron said sarcastically, glancing up from his Nintendo DS. 'And you're gonna scare Spike off too, and I like him. He's cool.'

'I am?'

'Well yeah.' Aaron wasn't about to admit he'd never seen his sister so happy, and she and Spike seemed like a matched set, like garlic butter and cheese. 'I mean, someone's gotta be good enough for Winnie, right?'

'Your vote of confidence is so reassuring,' Winnie laughed, then yanked Aaron's video game unit away from him, eliciting a squawking yelp. 'We're here, techno-holic.'

'Just let me save it.' Aaron grabbed the unit back, pressed a few buttons before tucking the game into the hidden compartment on the seat-back in front of him. 'Ooh Dad, Dad, parking spot!'

'I got it,' Pietr laughed, pulling into the vacant slot and shutting off the engine.

The sudden lack of the mechanical hum had Spike's nerves jolting a little as they all got out, headed for the rental chalet. He may have felt a little braver after meeting Winnie's mother and sister, but it still didn't stop him from thinking about the outside chance Pietr could do away with him.

'Mike'Angelo, you said you're a cop, right? Your daily bread and butter is dealing with explosive devices?'

'Yes sir,' Spike replied as though it were his superior officer speaking to him.

'Then why do you look like you're going to wet your pants?'

Spike turned around at Winnie's barely concealed snicker, saw her turn away quickly to put on her sneakers when he glanced in her direction. 'Sir, you frighten me,' he replied honestly.

'Why? I'm just a man, no more or less than any other.'

'But you are Winnie's father and you...Winnie loves you and respects you so much,' he tried to explain, 'and if you said I was no good-'

'She would tell me to take a long walk off a short dock,' Pietr finished on a grin. 'She loves you, you love her so my disapproval if I did disapprove that is, would weigh heavily but it would not break your relationship. Surely you've been in situations like that before with your family.'

Spike thought of the fights with his father about his job, the refusal on both sides to give in because both believed they were so god-damn right. 'I do, sir.'

'So, quit your bitching and go get your bike.'

Pietr gave Spike's cheek a friendly open-palmed pat, went to help Rachel and Aaron with their bikes. He put his fingertips there lightly, then looked at Winnie as she tried to keep the giggles to herself.

'Remember this,' was all he said, 'when we go to Italy. Take this moment and freeze it in your mind when my cousins ask you about marriage and babies.'

'They know we'll only have been together about six months, right?'

'Like I said, remember this moment.'

They got their bike rentals, along with a trail map, did a few preliminary laps around the mini course near the ski-barn used after snowfall. When they were ready to go, deciding to split up once they'd done a loop of the trail, Spike leaned over to give Winnie a quick kiss.

'Relax,' she giggled against his lips, 'it'll be fun.'

'Stop sucking face, let's go!' Aaron protested loudly, earning a laugh from Rachel.

'What he said.'

They headed out and as they made their way into the forest, Spike had to admit it was a great way to detox from the city - the sun was shining, and there was just enough breeze in the air to keep them cool and refreshed. Plus it was fun to play frogger with the trees and rocks on the path. No question, it was a great feeling of freedom, mind and body. Not unlike the aftermath of very hot sex with Winnie, he thought on a chuckle as he slowed at the top of the hill, then forced his thoughts to go elsewhere. The last thing he needed was Spike Junior popping up looking for Winnie right now. It was a family thing after-all.

'Wow!' Breathless, Rachel pulled her brakes, clicked open the straps of her helmet. She reached for her water bottle, then leaned on her bike handle-bars. 'That's one hell of a hill!'

'I don't know how Winnie does it given she has a bad knee.'

'Oh her knee is fine, it's just not good enough for being on an SRU field team, though she told me she's gone into the field with you guys a couple of times.'

Spike arched an eyebrow. 'Really? You guys talk about stuff like that?'

'Well yeah, I mean, I know I'm not her biological mother but I do love her and she's comfortable asking me for advice I'm more than happy to give.' Rachel paused, drank more water. 'That surprises you?'

'A little but as I say that I don't think it should.' Spike chuckled, scratched his neck when it felt like he had a mosquito landing there. 'She loves her mom, but her mom doesn't agree with her as a person sometimes. So I offer my shoulder or my ear or my kitchen when I can.'

'Rachel, wait for me!'

Spike looked over his shoulder to see Winnie following Aaron up the hill, deliberately going slow so the boy wouldn't be dragging behind. 'Where's Pietr?'

'He had to turn back, he had an issue with his back brakes so he's getting them fixed at the pro shop,' Winnie replied. 'What are you gossiping about?'

'Well0'

'Spike was telling me all about how he's dating you, the ultimate foodie who doesn't like Italian food,' Rachel jumped in.

'I do so,' Winnie replied vehemently, eyes dparkling with indignation. 'Didn't we go to Andolini's as a treat for my birthday?'

'Yeah, we did,' Spike chuckled, 'but I still can't convince you to try the veal or the ossobuco.'

'I'm not a fan of eating lamb, and thinking about veal makes me wanna cry.'

'Ossobuco is a veal dish,' Spike pointed out. 'And you don't like linguine or fettuccine. How much is my mother goin to weep that you don't wanna try her fettuccine Bolognaise?'

'I'll drown it in sauce, or have a small portion.'

'There, see? Perfect match,' Rachel smiled. 'Although...'

'Although what?' Winnie asked warily; she knew that look in her stepmother's eyes. It was the one that said they were going to be in for a teasing of epic proportions. 'What are you cooking up?'

'Not me, him.' She pointed delicately at Spike. 'How do you feel about being chef tonight with me? It's our tradition. I make the Saturday holiday meal, then we have Turkey on Sunday.'

'I think that sounds great.' Spike had a feeling he knew what Rachel was up to, and he most definitely wanted to play along. 'I could make something I know Winnie will eat.'

'Oh?'

'I'm not twelve,' Winnie interrupted them, trying to pull her two favourite chefs away from their fledgling conspiracy. 'I can speak for myself.'

Spike adjusted his pedals, gauged the distance on the paper map. 'Tell you what, Winona. You beat me back to the chalet once we reach this point-' he stabbed at the page '-and you choose the menu. I win, I chose.'

'What do you choose?'

'Mmm butter chicken poutine, green salad with lots of peppers and carrots, lemon greek yogurt and honey cruller Timbits for dessert. You?'

'Bruschetta, Cesar salad, pollo al forno and...' Spike paused to drink his water, knowing he was drawing it out to torture Winnie, but he knew this would drive it home. 'Deep-fried cheese ravioli with red-wine bolignaise sauce.'

'Deal.'

Winnie pressed her mouth to his in a hard kiss, then took off down the hill. 'Gonna have to catch me, Constable,' she hollered over her shoulder as Spike fumbled with the map; Rachel took it from him, patted his back.

'Crush her, I want some deep-fried ravioli tonight.'

* * *

'I still don't understand how you beat me!'

'Aren't you forgetting? My training partners were Lou and Sam, they made me beat them at running drills in full gear. Whistling downhill on a tiny little bike is cake.'

Winnie rolled her eyes, rubbed the back of her hand over her forehead as they wandered down the produce aisles of the Zehrs market off Essa Road. She'd lost, fair and square, on their little deal not by a little but a whole lot. 'I suppose. I was really looking forward to butter chicken poutine.'

'That's like one of the most unhealthy things I've ever heard you want to eat.' Spike looked at the tomatoes, picked a few before squeezing her shoulder. 'Is this a craving I should know about?'

'Huh? Oh, Jesus, no,' Winnie laughed. 'We're not worrying about that for awhile, Mike. Cool your jets.'

'Good. Not that I don't want kids with you, just...let's do things in the order the way my mother thinks her good Catholic boy should.'

'Or my mother.'

'That too,' Spike agreed, grabbing another clear plastic recyclable bag for onions. 'Some how I get the sense that if we did have a child before we got married, your dad and Rachel would just be happy about a grandbaby while your mother and sister are clutching their pearls in horror.'

'You figured right. Oh, one other thing I should prepare you for.'

'More surprises?' he teased her. 'Now what?'

'My dad's house is kinda...big.'

'How big? Like four rooms? Five?'

'Twelve.'

'Twelve!' The word leaped out of Spike's mouth like a lobster trying to escape a pot of boiling water. 'Holy shit! Are they all bedrooms?'

'No, they're all used for different things, just...it's more comfortable if they ask us to sleep separately, though I have a feeling they'll tell us to take the basement.'

'The basement?'

'It's set up like a small apartment within the house, so that if Aaron has friends over upstairs, Dad and Rachel can entertain guests there, or vice versa.'

Spike plunked the onions down in the basket Winnie carried, gave her a long, slow look. 'That means we could have some privacy. Have that bit of celebration we talked about last night.'

'We could. We could even do it in the hot tub,' she replied, which made him grin widely.

'You, soaking wet with hot foamy water and fruity drinks? How could I possibly refuse?'

'Well, nothing is guaranteed, but-' Winnie blinked when he took off for the fresh pasta section. 'What are you doing?'

'I've learned Rachel has a weakness for ravioli, so...' Spike dumped three different kinds of fresh ravioli into the basket. 'I'm getting her pasta-drunk so they'll have to say yes and let us have the basement.'


	43. Tell Me Something Good

'Spike, I swear I'm going to burst after that delicious meal.'

Rachel leaned back in her chair, stretched before patting her stomach. 'Fried ravioli is such a treat, but hte kicker was that homemade bolognaise sauce.'

'Why is it called that when you make it from ground beef?' Aaron inquired, looking up and down the table to see if anyone would reprimand him for seeing if he could steal thirds of ravioli or fourths of bread and salad. 'Wouldn't you make it from bologna?'

'I think that's one of those cross-culture confusions, son,' Pietr said, not missing the way Spike draped his arm over the back of Winnie's chair as he relaxed with his wine. 'Mike'Angelo?'

'Bologna is a city in northern Italy where a lot of cured sausage gets made, and they would used ground sausage as the meat in their meat sauces for pasta,' Spike explained, hoping he didn't sound too condescending - teaching has never been one of his fortes, not like that natural style Winnie had. 'So to serve a pasta dish bolognaise style means serving it with a meat sauce.'

'So like spaghetti and meatballs could be considered bolognaise style?'

'Sort of, if there is meat in the sauce that isn't just the balls.'

When this elicited a snicker from Aaron, Winnie rolled her eyes, looked at Rachel. 'How do you put up with a house of nothing but men?'

'I'm used to it,' Rachel replied on a laugh. 'Who is up for dessert?'

'Oh not for a while yet,' Pietr replied, then pinned Spike with a look. 'And don't even think of trying to help clean up, young man.'

'Why...not?' Spike asked at length.

'Cooks don't clean. Aaron, help your sister out.'

'Aw, man-'

'Get used to it, young man, as Winnie and your mother will be preparing the feast tomorrow, and we will really have our work cut out for us then,' Pietr cut him off, tapping a finger on the table top. 'Cooks don't clean. Spike, you and I are going to go enjoy one of my favourite treats.'

'Uh...' Spike felt more thana little sexist leaving his girlfriend to do the tidying up of his mess, but when Winnie gave him a subtle shake of the head, tilted it towards her father. 'Sure, very well sir.'

'Well, you boys enjoy the fun, I'm going to catch up on my horror quota,' Rachel winked at them. 'If you hear bloodcurdling screams or thumps coming from the library-'

'We know it's just your imagination,' Pietr laughed, rising from the table. He gave his kids and Rachel each a quick kiss, then gesture to Spike to follow him. 'Time for manly fun.'

Unsure as to what such a man would consider manly fun, considering his wife had just said they had an actual library in their house, Spike obeyed, following him to the upper-most floor of the house, into what had once been a bedroom and was obviously converted into a man-cave. There were sliding doors leading onto a balcony that offered a beautiful view of the city while a gorgeous billiards table took up the majority of the room; the closet had been converted to a wet bar, and there was also a small poker table in an alcove. On the walls were posters and other memorabilia all featuring Dutch national football stars along with photos of Pietr and Rachel meeting various Blue Jay and Red Sox baseball players.

'Wow, I think this is the first time I've ever been in someone actual home where they have two pool tables.' Spike waggled his thumb over his shoulder as Pietr shut the door. 'Is there one for every floor?'

The genuinely curious tone of Spike's voice made Pietr laugh. 'The one in the basement is for Aaron and his friends to play so they aren't glued to that damned i-Box crap. Billiards takes skill, it takes mathematics and physics.'

'I think you mean X-Box, sir.'

'No, I mean i-Box as in idiot. I understand it teaches all about motor co-ordination and things like that but when you go out with friends you aren't going to find many pubs with a video console, are you?'

'I suppose not sir.'

'Enough with the sir,' Pietr teased him, moving behind the wet bar to build them each a drink. 'I'm not the school headmaster and seeing as you are in love with my daughter enough that you are taking her to Italy in a few months time to meet your family, I'd say that's earned you a pass.'

'But- okay, Pietr.' Spike could only shrug his shoulders, lean against the grain-wood bar. 'She is terrified about meeting my family, though I think that's mainly a language thing since she speaks French and Dutch.'

'Interesting.'

'What?'

'Both of you are cops, negotiators of some very tough people,' Pietr pointed out, 'yet both of you are terrified of your partner's family.'

'Not terrified of the family, terrified of the family rejecting us,' Spike explained. 'We are both people who come from strongly opinionated families and we know how hard it is to find someone we like given our jobs, nevermind someone our family will welcome either of us the way you have.'

'What makes you think that your family won't?' Another though struck Pietr. 'Do I make you uncomfortable?'

'No just the opposite,' Spike said before realizing it was true. 'I feel very comfortable with you and Rachel and Aaron, it's the idea that you'll tolerate me because of your daughter that occasionally creeps into my brain.'

'Honesty.' Pietr raised his bottle of pineapple juice, gestured at Spike with it. 'That will get you farther in the adult world than you might think, and it goes a long way with me. I believe in being upfront with people in my life, which was why telling my children and my wife that I had cancer was the hardest thing I'd ever done. I know how much courage that takes to face rejection from people you love.'

'I love Winnie with all my heart,' Spike confessed. 'And she loves me back.'

'Which means that you'll know the answer when you ask her the most important question a man can ever ask of a woman, no matter how many butterfly feelings you have.'

'Wow,' he laughed, 'we just told each other the big scary L-word, let's not go picking out china patterns before we even move in together.'

'Mike'Angelo, I can assure you when that happens no one will be surprised except my baby girl, not because she doesn't love you and trust you. Just because I know you'll surprise her because she doesn't always think of herself as the kind who wants the romantic trappings like flowers and treats.'

Spike thought of the times he brought Winnie coffee just to see her smile, when he made her supper or saw her sacked out on his couch waiting up for him so he carried her up to bed and tucked her in with him. The dreamy look in her eyes when she registered him nearby as she roused herself from sleep always made him feel loved. The look she got when he was inside her, the glazed eyes as she sighed out his name.

'I've been known to be a Romeo for her when I want,' he told Pietr, then eyed up the concoction currently spilled out of the martini shaker. 'Dare I ask what this is?'

'This is a fresh made Tom Camden. A Tom Collins with my own twist,' he laughed. 'Double the gin, no syrup, pineapple instead of lemon and topped with Fresca instead of plain bubble water.'

'Oh, that does sound yummy. What?'

'You're a cop who just said 'yummy', it's rather charmingly incongruous.'

'Well most people mistake me for an officer friendly rescuing cats, not a bomb expert,' Spike pointed out, to which Pietr nodded.

'That I believe. So.'

He rounded the bar, gestured to the pool table. 'What's your game, eight or nine ball?'

'Eight, sir. Winnie and I are both pretty good players.'

Where do you think she learned it from?' Pietr winked, choosing two cues.

'You?'

'Actually, Rachel. It was one of the ways they bonded to get to know each other better. So I propose. For every shot you miss, you answer my questions and for every one you sink, you get one of these.' Pietr went back to the bar, lifted out a small humidor. 'Genuine Cuban cigars. You can enjoy them with your cousins, or you can consider it an IOU for a special day. Say if you want to give them to the men in your wedding party?'

Spike fought too keep the colour from creeping up his neck - he could already envision the looks on Ed, Sam and Wordy's faces when he gave them real Cubans as part of his wedding party gift for his groomsmen. The idea Winnie's dad was giving him these ideas because had them himself was more than a little disconcerting but Spike had an idea this was just a gambit to grease the wheels into him coughing up those pesky details Peitr had yet to ask about. Past girlfriends, ambitions for his career, financial stability, those little chestnuts.

When Pietr broke formation, he sank two balls, one striped and one solid; the move made Spike swallow hard. Perhaps Pietr was a better bluffer than he realized. 'Your choice.'

'I'll take stripes.'

'How do you feel about a church wedding?'

Spike nearly shredded the green felt when his cue slip in his hands from the sudden onset of sweat in his palms. 'Excuse me?'

'I'm not going to press too hard for that, as long as you and Winnie make the decision together. I understand your family are Catholics and all, and Winnie is the kind of woman to respect that if they want it. But a wedding would not be their way or the highway.'

'Not a chance, sir,' Spike replied hastily, slipping into the old habit. He'd lined up his shot, sank the stripe and was aligning his next shot when Pietr popped the next one.

'How do you feel about Winnie still being a cop should she get pregnant?'

'I will have my opinions but it is ultimately her decision so whatever she decides, whether to keep being a cop or to go on extended leave or leave all together I'll support. He paused. 'That being said I know her well enough now to read between the lines and figure out when she wants attention or if she wants help making her decision.'

'Such as?'

'When she is eating fried chicken sandwiches for breakfast really means she is stress eating so she can feel some kind of endorphin high before facing the music, and her yelling at me when I question the nutritional value of her decision is simply a handy outlet.'

Pietr nodded. 'Even as a young woman, particularly in her university days. Fried chicken with greens and cheesy bread those were her go-to stress foods. Pasta for depression, though I suspect that's changed since meeting you.'

'Indeed.' Spike missed shot, causing Pietr to take point. When he ricocheted the green two-ball against the bumper, he took his chance. 'What if Winnie and I began a family before we were married, or even engaged?'

'It would make Winnie's mother lose her mind without question, but as far as I'm concerned you and Winnie are adults and should be trusted to make the best decision for your situation. It would be preferable that you are married from a legal stand-point however that's not my place.'

It was the answer Spike had anticipated, which provided him with relief at the confirmation his intuition was correct about Pietr on this very key matter. 'I understand what it is you want to do with this, Pietr, but can I just say that I'm a healthy male whose had all his shots, I've never cheated or had unsafe sex, and there was only once when I've been treated for an STI but that turned out to actually be a UTI.'

''Does Winnie know about that one?' Pietr asked drily, which made Spike turn red as the maraschino cherry in his drink.

'Yeah, she does. It involved some undercover work at a very questionable night club, where you order alcohol because that way it would sterilize the glassware.'

'Ah, yes, I suppose that would come with the territory.' Pietr pursed his lips, drank some of his cocktail. 'What about if something happened to you or Winnie on the job?'

'We know that's part of the risk, Pietr, which is why we make sure that we try to talk things out as much as we can. Being that we're both cops, it definitely helps one understand the other's idea of a bad day.'

'Any traffic violations?'

'Couple of parking tickets, nothing serious.'

'No exes who are going to go all bunny-boiler on you?'

'Not a one, sir,' Spike reassured him. waiting with baited breath as Pietr picked his glass up once more and tapped it against his own. 'Does this mean I'm welcomed into the family.'

'It means you're almost good enough for my little girl.'

He swallowed tightly. 'Only almost, sir?'

'Winnie is my first born girl, no one will ever be good enough for her. That being said, you're pretty damn close to a perfect fit for her.' Pietr winked at him. 'Trust me, when you and Winnie have your own babies, you'll understand.'

There was a knock on the door, and when Pietr hollered for the myster person to enter, Winnie poked her head around the door. 'Hey Daddy. I see he has all his appendages still attached, that's a good sign.'

'Indeed it is. How can I help you princess?'

'Rachel wants to know if you're going to make bread pudding for dessert tomorrow where all the bread is.'

'All in the freezer of the fridge in the basement. Get out all four loaves so we can have pain perdu for breakfast. Go on,' Pietr flicked his hands at Winnie who was darting her eyes back and forth between her father and boyfriend.

'Boys and their rituals,' she muttered, closing the door behind her; Spike waited a full ten seconds before turning to his host.

'Pietr, I have to ask it. If you and Winnie's mother were still married, would you have made us sleep in separate rooms?'

'No, but my views on such things and Gabriella's are very different. Debate is good in a marriage it keeps things fresh but on the fundamental things...' Pietr shook his head. 'You need to make sure that you are in harmony on those, or at the very least will to concede certain things and compromise. Added to which, Gabriella always felt like what we did was a mistake.'

'What you did?'

'Gabriella and I were married after Gabriella got pregnant because she didn't want to face her parents' very conservative wrath about being an unwed mother,s since they were certain I'd leave after I learned of the pregnancy. So she took it out on Winnie.'

'Why not Shannon too?'

'Because Shannon likes men, but not the way Winnie does,' Pietr replied simply. 'Winnie's has some rough relationships, and Gabriella fundamentally believes it is rooted in the idea that Winnie wasn't a good girl like she should be, and learning from her mother's mistakes.'

'Oh boy.' That was rough, and it made Gabriella make a little more sense. A little but not much, that she should be so controlling over her daughter who clearly knew how to make rational decisions on her own. 'That's good to know in case we're invited back at Christmas.'

'Don't count on it. Plan to come here, then go to their place a day or two later. Shannon is particular about having her mother to herself at Christmas.'

'Makes me wanna hug Winnie even more.'

'Yes well, just please remember that if you two are _hugging_ later-' Pietr put special emphasis on the word '-please remember tomorrow morning we might be coming downstairs so clothing is key.'

Spike flushed red as a pomegranate this time. 'Pietr, I-'

'Just kidding, my boy.'

'Man.' He shook his head. 'One of her parents doesn't think her daughter has a private life, the other is commenting on it like a baseball match.'

'Welcome to the Camden clan.'

* * *

Later, when Spike and Winnie were indeed getting ready for bed, Spike couldn't get Pietr's knowing look out of his mind. It was like knowing someone was looking in the window, which he couldn't shake off.

'Mike, what's wrong?'

Spike turned around, saw Winnie was naked but for her tiny lacy panties slipping beneath the sheets. 'Just thinking about how polar opposite your parents are and how you are a blend of all their good traits. Even your mother.'

'Really?'

'Yeah. I mean, neither of us are perfect but you...' Spike trailed off, made a show of dropping two condoms from his shaving kit onto the bedside table. 'You are just about as close as it gets.'

'I love you too. You think you're getting lucky tonight?' Winnie jutted her chin out, and Spike simply kissed her.

'You are my good luck all the time.'


	44. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Winnie fought the yawn without much success as she continued to write up her report for the Team Four afternoon incident at the Holiday Inn. Poor bastard was threatening to drown his six-year-old daughter as a witch because she was organically left-handed and his right-wing bible-thumping therapist had told him that such people were servants of the Prince of Darkness. She reached for her Darcy Tucker special - iced coffee sweetened with regular Coca-Cola - and downed a couple more sips of it before putting it back. She had to pace herself if she was gonna last until midnight, and it was barely six now.

'Happy Hallowe'en, Costable!'

Winnie looked up, saw Jules walking belly first through the front doors with Sam following behind her. She eyed the black and orange parcel the mama-to-be dropped on the counter for her. 'What's that?'

'A little Hallowe'en pick-me-up since you're going to miss all the fun of Team One being on duty tonight. It's what I call a Callaghan Classic Combo.'

Winnie opened the parcel, found the assortment of bite-sized chocolate bars Jules knew she preferred and a stack of classic chiller movies. 'Where did you find all these?'

'I know you're a fan of black and white scares so I did a little digging on Amazon and bam!' Jules slapped her palm lightly on the countertop. 'You've got your very own set. Hope you don't have any doubles there.'

'Not at all,' Winnie grinned, looking through the titles. There was the original _Cat People_ which was actually terrifying and not a soft-core knockoff set to David Bowie music like its tawdry remake, Bela Lugosi's _Dracula_, _Les Diabolique, _the Vincent Price classic _House of Wax_ and most temptingly of all _The Wicker Man_ with Christopher Lee. 'Oh these are gonna be great tomorrow and the chocolate will keep the endorphins coming so I don't have a total heart attack.'

'Why not tonight? Don't wanna watch them in case Spike isn't around?'

'Haha, no, I just watch them with chocolate in one hand and my off-duty piece in the other,' Winnie laughed as she snagged a mini Kit-Kat bar from the box. 'No, I'm working until you guys are done tonight.'

'Oh, a double shift?' Jules' expression was all sympathy. 'Did Syd wanna hit up that Hallowe'en party on Danforth he kept talking about last week?'

'That but I also I needed the overtime to bank up for mine and Spike's trip in December.'

'Ah yes, going to Italy to meet the man's family.' Her eyebrows wiggled excitedly. 'Nervous?'

'Terrified,' Winnie replied on a sheepish grin. 'I'm glad I have other things to think about today.'

'You'll be here for the baby being born, right?' Jules looked worried that one of her closest friends would miss such an important life event.

'Babies do things their own way though, don't they?'

'That's the beauty of a doctor-scheduled C-section.' Jules' smile was bright, albeit with nerves at the edges, and Winnie nodded in understanding. 'What's on tap for Team One tonight?'

'Patrol night, making good with the drunks and party-goers. Ed's taking me with him on the family-friendly route, making sure no-one's gonna try and hurt some kids. Spike and Raf are going to the club district with Lea and Sam-'

'Downtown or the Annex?'

'Downtown.'

'Why not the Annex?'

'Team Two's got that covered. They've needed some friendly PR after the issue with the janitor at the theatre caused some major utilities disruptions,' Winnie said with a little snicker. 'Holloran was not amused by those emails flooding his office.

'I wouldn't think so.'

'Winnie!'

She glanced around Jules to see Ed walking into the station, gear-bag in one hand and his daughter's hand in the other. Issy was dressed in her Hallowe'en costume, an impossibly adorable pint-sized police costume; she clutched a small cloth totebag in her other fist. 'Hey guys, what are you doing here?'

'Rick or 'reat!' Issy chirped cheerfully. She dropped Ed's hand, toddled forward towards Jules where she gave the woman's pregnant belly a loving pat-pat. 'Hi bee-bee, ah-mos birt-day!'

'Soon,' Jules replied, heart melting at the tot's cuteness. 'Near Christmas time when we sing Christmas songs and make gingerbread houses.'

'Ooo, fun! Now time fo' 'pookies an' 'reats!' Issy declared. 'Daddy say I as' Miss Winnie 'rick or 'reat.'

Delighted beyond words, Winnie rolled back a little from her desk to see Issy march around the side of the counter and hold out her treat sack. 'Well you look very sharp, Miss Issy. Who are you supposed to be, your daddy?'

'Nuh-uh, I be you!'

'Me?' Stunned, Winnie blinked in unmasked surprise. 'Why not Miss Jules? Her skin is vanilla like yours.'

'But she haffa big bumpy.' Issy patted her stomach with her pudgy little hands. 'You no haffa bumpy so I be you.'

'Well, that's awfully nice. Here.' Winnie grabbed the bowl of assorted wrapped chocolate. 'Because you are so kind and sweet you can take two.'

'Ooo.' Issy's eyes lit up and she pointed to her two favourite colours. 'Lel-lo an' bah-loo, see-boo-pay.'

'See-boo-pay?'

'Uh-huh, 'Larke say mean 'tanks' en fran-say.'

'_Je vous en prie_,' Winnie replied, sincerely ready to turn to goo at the little girl's valiant attempt to say _s'il vous plait_ as she dropped the mini Nestle Crunch and Coffee Crisp into her treat bags. Clarke must have been working hard to teach her that one. 'That means 'you're welcome' _en français.'_

'Ooo, Winnie you so 'mart.' Issy wrapped her arms wide around Winnie's, made a little 'mm' noise. 'See soon!'

Winnie stood up as Issy marched importantly back to her father, saw Ed escort her outside to the waiting Sophie with a little hug and a kiss before returning inside. 'Cute kid.'

'She is her mother's child, always insisting on things that usually work out for the best,' Ed laughed. 'Winnie, why you still here?'

'Overtime, she's saving for the big trip in December,' Jules reminded him, and Winnie felt her face warm with embarrassment when Ed began to grin in the goofy way he did when he was really hyped up to tease Spike too. 'Going to meet the family in Italy.'

'Ah, yes, another big step. Will that be before or after your six months together?'

'During,' Winnie muttered, looking around at her desk for something - anything - she could pretend needed to be photocopied or filed in the hardcopy archives.

'Ooo, just think, you can have real Italian pizza on your six months just like your first date,' Jules chimed in, secretly jealous Winnie was getting to travel while she just had a belly that arrived most places before her. 'I better go change into my parade-sized uniform.'

'Aw, just think, soon you'll have a baby in your arms instead of your belly!' Winnie called after her, then hit the button on her switchboard. 'SRU, Constable Camden speaking.'

'Constable, this is Debbie Conrad over at nine-one-one, we just received a call from a party goer at Oakham House at the Ryerson campus saying he found a suspicious package near some electrical equipment being used for a party tonight.'

'You still got the caller?'

'Yes sir.'

There was a pause, a beep with a click, before Winnie introduced herself. 'This is Constable Camden of the SRU, to whom am I speaking?'

'Yeah my name is Brody, Brody Lewis and I'm at Oakham House. I'm helping get the place ready for the Hallowe'en charity thing tonight and I came down to check the delivery of the band's amps and shit, and I saw this box that read 'For the Fags' and...and it was humming.'

'Humming?'

'Yeah, like a dryer running in the background you know?'

'Yes I understand. I need to relay your information to our investigators, and I need to give them your number so they can continue to talk to you until they arrive.'

'Got it.' Brody hastily rattled off his mobile number, which Winnie copied down; she disconnected the call, then hit the button for the red light PA. 'Team One, hot call, repeat hot call for Team One!'

Within ten minutes, the group of black SUVs was rolling out from the garage, heading for the university as Winnie relayed the details from nine-one-one. As he heard her voice clear as crystal over the comms, Spike got the tingle - Babycakes was going trick-or-treating, hopefully to find some treats with no tricks.

'Talk to us Winnie,' Ed told her as he drove through the crowded streets towards Ryerson's campus. 'What are we walking into?'

'A call was received from Brody Lewis, he stated he was checking music equipment for a party tonight at Oakham house when he found a suspicious package with a slur written on the side. He said the box sounded like it was humming, similar to an appliance running in the background atmosphere of home.'

'Humming usually means a remote switch, not a countdown which could buy us some time in terms of evacuation,' Spike informed the rest of the team. 'Winnie did he say anything about wires, or strings or anythign nearby?'

'He didn't, but it's possible even if he did see things like that, they blended in with the music equipment he was checking.'

'True enough.'

'Winnie what do we know about our caller?' Sam asked over the line; there was the click of computer keys, followed by her voice.

'Brody Lewis is a born-and-raised city boy, currently attending Ryerson for graduate work in television production. No criminal sheet, but he has a nasty habit of parking in fire truck zones around town.'

'Any chance this guy is our bomber, trying to get himself on the news?' Leah inquired.

'Negative Leah, I'm looking at his school transcripts right now, and this guy barely passed rocks-for-jocks in his freshman year at U of T. He's all about the media.'

Ed nodded his head in the way he did when he was putting together the game plan. 'Okay, good job Winnie, now what's going on in terms of party night at Oakham house tonight?'

'Uh...oh man.'

'Spit it out.'

'It's a fundraiser costume gala for Ryerson's gay-straight alliance. They are trying to procure funds for a trip to the UN conference next June on universal human rights including the rights of the LGBTQ community.'

'I'm assuming that slur was something related to the party's choice of charity?' Jules said in a tone that was more seeking confirmation than the answer to a question.

'Absolutely.'

'Thanks Winnie, alright everyone here's the deal.' Ed cleared his throat, tried not to think of the possibility that Clarke was going to be at this party since he had friends at Ryerson. 'Jules and Raf, you are outside taking names and talking to witnesses. Leah and Sam you guys are on evacuation of the building. Spike, I want you to go with Babycakes and the guy who called in the bomb to see what we're dealing with.'

There was a round of agreement as they slowed in front of the unassuming building festooned with various Hallowe'en trappings; Spike particularly liked the mammoth-sized giant tarantula on the lawn with a skeletal ribcage between its mandibles. Winnie would have lost it entirely - brave as she was, she had a paralyzing fear of spiders - which made Spike happy she was safely tucked in at her desk at the barn.

The moment Ed turned off the engine, Spike was leaping out, getting his bomb-bot ready while Ed dialed Brody back, got him to meet them at the door. Fortunately for Babycakes the party room was on the main floor of the renovated Victorian townhouse, one less thing to make a tense call less so.

'Tell me about the package, Brody,' he said to the visibly shaken young man.

Brody, who had stayed in his street clothes since making the call, rubbed his palms down the front of his shirt. 'It was a box, about the size you'd use to wrap up a toaster-oven,' he said, holding his hands roughly twenty inches apart. 'I couldn't tell if it was wired up or anything because once I heard the noise it was making I got the hell out of there.'

'Right, the humming. Was it constant or intermittent?'

'Constant, like, you know the noise a fridge or a dryer makes and you just absorb it into the background? Like that. I heard it and I thought it was coming from an amp that was still turned on after the DJ was done with his sound checks.'

'Okay. Stay with me here, we're gonna let Babycakes do her thing.'

Spike powered the bomb-bot forward to the area where the box had been found, shook his head when he saw the slur written on the side in scratchy black marker. 'Cowards and idiots,' he murmured, studying the scanner. When he saw the read-out, Spike went very still. 'Oh boy. Yeah this guy is interested in some really sick fun. Ed?'

'Yeah Spike.'

'Get the Haz-Mat unit down here, pronto.'

'Haz-Mat?' Brody felt his stomach clench. 'Why do you need Haz-Mat?'

'Brody, I need you to go outside to Constable Lane, tell him to keep all the people evacuated from the house in a contained area.'

'Why?'

'Brody.' The shriller the young man became, the calmer Spike became. 'This is a very powerful bomb. I need all of my concentration, but I still need your help. That means I am going to only ask you once more. I need you to go outside to Constable Lane and tell him we need Haz-Mat down here, ASAP.'

'Okay.'

Brody scrambled off, not knowing Ed had already heard everything Spike was saying; once alone Spike sighed heavily. 'Ed, we need to figure out who our bomber is right away.'

'Spike why do we need Haz-Mat?'

'I'm looking at a small-parcel bomb rigged with a remote-activated pressure switch that will not only cause a hell of a lot of damage shrapnel wise but is rigged up to release lysergic acid diethylamide combined with atracurium.'

'LSD?' Leah looked at Sam, who let out a low whistle.

'It's not just a party drug anymore. When it's vaporized, it's used as an agent in chemical warfare, a highly powerful hallucinogenic agent designed to drive the enemy force insane.'

'What about the other one, the atta-what's-it,' Ed asked.

'Atracurium, it's a paralytic used in anesthesiology to relax the muscles. If you vapourized that combo at a Hallowe'en party, who knows what the hell could happen.'

'It'd be like that scene from _Batman Begins_ when the Scarecrow sends the Narrows into chaos,' Winnie offered, feeling a chill settle in her belly as she listened to what her man was up against. She felt the urge to sit o her hands since the thing she wanted most right now was to be there on scene to see Spike walk out safely once she heard him say the magic words - 'bomb defused'.

'Looks like dating a Batman nerd pays off,' Spike said blithely as he finished the scan. 'Fortunately, that is the extent of what our bomber wants to do. Why here? It's a charity party.'

'For a very specific group not everyone would be keen to support,' Raf pointed out. 'Remember the incident with Tyler Bell?'

'True. Alright, I need some space here, and I need everyone outside.'

Spike closed his eyes, breathed deeply to block out the noise of everything except the humming he heard. It was the power source for keeping the atracurium cold so it wouldn't be going off until necessary. This guy was smart, he thought. Get them high on LSD, probably to tear each other up, then paralyze them all so they couldn't run away and they would be imprisoned for assault and misdemeanour drug use at a party gone wrong. Just another Hallowe'en statistic.

He pulled out his retractable mirror to check around the box for any trip wires; after finding none, he took out a slim wand to lift the flaps of the box to get the full picture of what he was dealing with. 'Oh wow, this guys got skills. Not the same as our friend with the Galina bomb but this is definitely not a homemade bottle rocket,' he informed his team. 'Ed, I'm going to need Haz-Mat here regardless of how well this gets defused. I'm taking no risks.'

'Be careful, Constable,' Winnie warned him, 'remember who you answer to these days.'

'Yeah, yeah,' Spike brushed her off, making Winnie shake her head. 'Quit nagging and let me work.'

Spike stared at the device, saw the two canisters, one attached to a small battery to keep it at the correct temperature until it was needed for dispersal. There were two separate remotes as well, which meant the possibility of co-conspirators, or an unwitting trigger man.

'Well, first things first, let's look at that detonator,' he said, then went very still when he heard the sound of a gun hammer being cocked very near his head.

'That's far enough, Constable.'


	45. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting

Winnie sat frozen at her desk, trying to force herself to think like a cop but all she could think of was the fact that the man she loved was trying to defuse a very scary, very unusual bomb and he was now a possible hostage. She reached for the stash of chocolate on her desk in a robotic fashion, nibbled down three mini Kit-Kats without really noticing it as she ordered her brain to clear from its terrified haze.

'Spike, talk to us,' she told him in a rigid tone. 'What's going on?'

Had Winnie been there to see it, she'd have witnessed the rest of Team One with similar looks on their faces as her own - controlled anxiety all cops faced in situations like this. 'Scarlatti, talk to us,' Ed told him.

Spike slowly turned around, saw the petite young woman standing behind him with the gun in her hand. She was dressed as a woodland sprite, all green and pink and gold sparkles reflecting off of the dull light of the dance hall's fluorescent bulbs. 'Miss, you shouldn't be here.'

'Neither should you. Move away from the gift.'

'The gift?'

'Yes the gift. It's a surprise package for the party goers, to enhance the mood for the little soiree tonight.'

Spike looked at the gun in her hand, saw the glint and realized this wasn't a hostage situation at all, this was a pissed-off girlfriend helping out her man, or possible her woman given the event that was being attacked. She was the rodeo clown, sent in to distract him which meant losing time from doing his job, otherwise she'd have been given a real gun instead of the movie prop one she currently held on him.

'I see. Okay, first things first, why don't you tell me your name?'

'I don't see the point?'

'If someone's holding a gun on me, I'd consider it a common courtesy.'

'Angie. Angie Dietrich.'

'Angie Dietrich,' Spike repeated, hoping Winnie would get the message and look her up. 'I'm Spike. Are you friends with Brody Miller?'

'He's the one in charge of the party tonight. Everyone knows him. Do-gooder human rights activist who wants to go on a trip to the UN or something.'

Spike looked at her again, saw the slight glaze of her eyes. On her way to being drunk, he thought, thought he could hardly smell anything on her breath which meant either she was masking it with something else or she'd brushed her teeth since downing some cocktails. 'That's right. He saw this package here and he called the cops because he was suspicious it might be something sinister.'

'Well it's not.'

'How would you know that?' Spike asked easily, standing up to his full height, and saw the woman - girl, really - barely cleared five-foot-two in her cute little ballerina slippers. 'Angie? How would you know if it's something sinister or not?'

'Because my friend Diana told me so,' Angie sneered back. 'I was at the door when she brought it in this afternoon and she told it was nothing to worry about, just a fancy smoke machine for the party tonight.'

'Diana who?'

'Diana Timon, she's head of the rainbow-huggers group having the party tonight.'

'Diana Timon,' Spike repeated again; Winnie shook her head, she knew exactly what he was doing, and it sprang her to action. She looked up the names he'd given them, rhymed off the information about them she found.

'Angie Dietrich is a third-year at U of T, belongs to a lot of liberal groups and donates a lot of money to equality rights groups. She was kicked out of school after failure to comply with her high school chemistry lab's safety procedures caused four people, including her teacher, to go to the hospital. No criminal charges were filed however, as the others injured had signed waivers to participate in the class in the first place.'

'Sounds like that might be our girl,' Leah commented.

'Not likely,' Winnie replied. She's got flags in her file at U of T she is not permitted anywhere near any of the science labs. they are secured with student ID card passes and she is denied access.'

'Possible she went off campus, or consulted with a friend?' Jules asked.

'Winnie does it say what the experiment was that got Angie expelled?' Sam asked.

There was a slight pause before she came back. 'Yes, she was created fireworks for an ISU project and she miscalculated the angle of a launcher which had the firework exploding in the front row of the audience rather than the containment field she'd built.'

'Any chance she did it on purpose?'

'No, she was devastated when she was removed from the school and wrote formal apologies to everyone involved, even the principal and the superintendent of the school board. Everyone agreed it was a straight-A student's project gone way wrong, nothing more.'

'Highly unlikely she's our stone-cold hate-crime planner,' Jules concluded, then asked Winnie, 'send us all a photo of Diana, Win.'

'On its way.'

'New plan,' Ed informed them. 'Raf, you are helping Jules with questioning the group on the sidewalk, Sam and Leah get the civilians into the hall so we can keep them there to identify our possible accomplice. I'm going in to back up Spike and talk to our little vigilante fairy princess. We have any uniforms for support?'

'Toronto PD is en route to your location now,' Winnie told them.

'Thanks Winnie,' Spike told her, then looked at Angie. 'Listen, I sincerely doubt you think this is a good idea, and in case you didn't know, I'm a cop, I can tell a fake gun.'

'I know, but...but you can't be here!' Angie's voice pitched and fell, clearly trying to hold onto her composure. Spike felt the pieces shift around. 'All I know is that I'm supposed to make sure nothing happens to this package, Diana told me so!'

'Diana's a friend of yours, right?'

'Yeah, she's my best friend, and...and...I can't let her down!'

Spike nodded, understanding the loyalty now. 'Have you told her how you feel?'

'I'm not some fuckin' lesbo!' Angie suddenly screamed. 'Just get away from there!'

'Guys I doubt Angie is your bomber, but she is more than likely involved somehow,' Winnie told them as her screens continued to fill with information. 'She's been involved with a group called Love Thy Neighbour, it's a fringe group that supports various methods of conversion therapy for gays. Their leader has been known to have ties to the Westboro Baptist Church as well as several members having association to Earth-Eden, both are on the CSIS terrorist watch-list Whoa.'

'What is it Winnie,' Ed asked.

'Angie's mother was arrested for domestic assault six years ago. The neighbours called the cops after they heard screaming coming from their house. When the cops arrived, they found her now-ex-husband stabbed multiple times along with Angie herself, she...' Winnie trailed off to compose herself. 'She stabbed her daughter in the belly and punctured her uterus after she caught Angie watching girl-on-girl porn on her laptop when she went in to say goodnight to her.'

'So the daughter struggles with her sexuality, mother rejects her very violently, daughter tries to make her mother proud by blowing up a symbol of the thing the mother hates most?' Jules reasoned. 'That sounds very plausible to me.'

'Except for the part that Angie said she can't let Diana down,' Sam pointed out. 'What if Angie is the accomplice who would become the scape-goat because of all those reasons Winnie just listed.'

'A front man,' Raf agreed. 'Spike, how is she?'

'Escalating but there is no threat, the gun is a fake, repeat, the weapon she has is a fake,' he informed. 'Unless she is Inspector Gadget and has an uzi up her minidress, she is mainly agitated.'

'Okay, Spike I'm coming in.'

Ed moved his weapon to his holster, headed for the main room of the hall where he found the teenagers being held under guard by Leah while the pixie of a woman with a very obviously fake weapon aimed at Spike's left ear. Her hands were visibly shaking, and her head whipped over at the sound of Ed's footsteps. 'Angie, my name is Ed Lane, I'm with the Police Strategic Response Unit. How about you put that away and we talk?'

'No more talking, this officer needs to leave so we can have our party. Brody, he- he's overreacting,' Angie protested. 'There's nothing here to worry about.'

'I believe there is,' Ed replied calmly, moving toward her while still giving her a wide berth. 'I need you to talk to me, because we are all very confused.'

'We?'

'My teammates and I about why you are trying to protect a chemical weapon and its maker with something like that.' He gestured to her prop-gun, shook his head. 'This isn't the kind of girl you are, everything about your body language tells me so.'

'What do you know about me?' Angie spat. 'Nothing, you're just bluffing your way out of this so you can ruin our fun.'

'Angie, my teammates have told me that there is a device in that box that contains powerful chemicals that would make the party-goers tear each other to pieces and follow that up with muscle paralyzing agents so you would all look like a massacre if anyone got suspicious. Can you imagine what would happen if someone like that got loose from this building, the chaos that would cause.' Ed spread his arms wide. 'This is a popular neighbourhood for Hallowe'en parties and not everyone would be in the right state of mind to tell right from wrong but you are, Angie. You are able to tell that difference right now, and you know that something here isn't right.'

'I'm...I'm a good friend,' Angie stammered, lowering her hands. 'I'm trying to be a good daughter too but I can't be both.'

'Yes you can, you can be a good daughter.'

'How? My mother-'

'Is a human being who makes mistakes too, just like all of us. That guy-' Ed pointed to Spike '-his first real date with his girlfriend was beer and hot wings. Not some nice suit-and-tie place, wings and beer like she was anyone off the street. Me, I nearly lost my family because I made mistakes too. But you don't have to make this one. Tell us who put you up to this, who is using you.'

'Diana is my friend, she wouldn't use me. I...my friend Diana told me I was fine the way I was but she was wrong and I have to win my mother back!' Angie said, voice wobbling almost as much as her hands now.

'Angie, your mother loves you, I'm sure of that,' Ed told her, 'even if she can't be supportive of your choices.'

'No, she...I can't do anything to make her upset anymore, I can't handle her looking at me like I'm the worst decision in her life.'

'The worst decision in your life is if you choose to let that bomb go off and innocent people get hurt.' Ed made a show of tapping his ear. 'Sam, Leah, how are we doing on evacuation?'

'We've still got two more floors up here to clear out and we have to use the main entrance because of Haz-Mat corrals,' Sam replied. 'About twenty more people, not including us.'

'Twenty more people still in the building,' Ed said simply, 'not including you, me, Constable Scarlatti or two more of my team upstairs making sure they are safe. You let that device go off, it goes into the air-ducts and begins to poison them.'

Spike nodded his agreement, then felt his blood chill when there was no more hum from the box. 'Ed, get out of here with her right now, right now,' he shouted. 'All of them out, now.'

'What is it, Spike?'

'The refrigeration unit for the atracurium just went off-line. I have about ninety seconds before it will begin escaping. Goddammit.'

'This is not a prank, this is not a drill,' Spike hollered at them. 'This room is going to be filled with poisonous gas, you are being ordered to evacuate for your own safety. Everyone here will be required to visit Haz-Mat outside for decontamination.'

'That is such bullshit!' A stocky boy who looked like he could bench press a streetcar before breakfast elbowed his way forward. 'You guys are just trying to ruin our party, fucking gay-bash homophobes!'

'Hey!' Ed's head whipped around, the glaring look silencing the kid. 'We are here because we are trying to keep all citizens attending this party safe. You got a beef with that, take it up with your local precinct. Constable Kearnes.'

'Everyone stay calm, let's go.' Leah informed them gesturing with her weapon, rolled her eyes when she saw them protest in annoyance. 'This is not optional, let's go.'

'Angie, move.' Ed moved forward, roughly grabbing Angie arm and hauling her towards the exit as the rest of the civilians began to filter out with loud grumbles of protests. 'You too Spike.'

'No, I have to take care of this. What happens to me doesn't matter, what matters is the civilian lives,' he said, thinking only of his job and not of anyone else who might hear what he said. 'Get her out now!'

The moment they were gone, Spike pulled the device out of the box, turned it ass-end up to find the power source. He fumbled in his bag for his ohmmeter, read it as a simply lithium battery-USB connection and pulled out the appropriate cord. He felt his insides unclench when the light blinked green and the humming started again. He carefully lifted the electronic mother-board plate up, saw the switches and leads leading to each remote. He clipped the wires, let out a sigh.

'Bomb defused. Get Haz-Mat in here now.'

Spike wiped the back of his hand over his forehead as he sat back on his heels. Damn that was a close one, he thought, one that could have gone very nasty. He checked his PDA, saw the image Winnie had sent around of Diana; he could help once Haz-Mat was done. 'Sam, Leah, proceed with evacuation of the civilians. I need to deal with this.'

'Constable Scarlatti, is there any injury to your person or other civilians?'

Spike blinked at the ice-hard edge of his girlfriend's voice. She never spoke to him that way, even on the day Greg had been shot - she'd given him a dose of her hot temper that she normal kept on a fair even keel. What the hell had happened to make her sound so frosty?

'No, Constable Camden I'm find. The Haz-Mat team will scrub me down once I'm finished with disposal.'

'Good. I'm need on a call for Team Three, Constable Lane am I cleared?'

'Yes, thank you Winnie. Be advised we have Diana Timon in custody. She has admitted to creating the bomb and ensuring it would be planted in a location to cause as much damage as possible. We'll go over the finer points in the debrief once we are back.'

Spike was glad to have the focus of the Haz-Mat team coming in to help him dispose the chemical agents safely; it was only when he was on his way out and saw the team standing by the SUVs that he thought of Winnie and her cold tone. Had something happened with her family and she was freezing them out to get through her shift? Well, that was bullshit, Spike would poke and prod her until she coughed it up.

One decontamination shower and a rather subdue ride back to the barn later, Spike had his own speech prepared in his head about how he and Winnie were a team and whatever happened, good or bad or in between, they'd be there for each other. When he saw her face, so thunderous it could have passed for a gargoyle at Casa Loma, he swallowed tightly.

'Team One, I need to speak with Constable Scarlatti in private,' she said in a voice so prim, Ed nearly said 'yes ma'am' like he was back in elementary school. Instead he jerked a thumb over his shoulder towards the briefing room.

'Ten minutes, then we debrief.'

'Yes sir.'

Winnie picked up a file, barely looking at Spike as she walked past a dead-silent Team One into the briefing room, Spike looking like the little boy about to go to the woodshed. He was barely through the door when she hit the button for the draw-down door.

'Wow, okay, what's with the-'

The words were barely out of his mouth before she was shoving both hands into his chest; the move took him so off guard he nearly landed on his ass as she shoved him backwards.

'You are such an _asshole_!' Winnie bellowed at him, thankful for the muffling of the steel door. 'Give me one good reason I shouldn't just dump your sorry ass right here and now for being such a fucking arrogant jerk.'


	46. Justify My Love

'Whoa, what? What the fuck are you talking about?'

She went to the table, read off the print-out she had brought in with her. 'Seven-seventeen, Officer Scarlatti, quote _what happens to me doesn't matter, what matters is the civilian lives_, end-quote.'

'Oh Jesus.' Spike shut his eyes. In his haste to deal with the potential ripple effect of the chemical agent, the one person he loved more than anything in the world had heard him nullify everything they had together with a careless slip of the tongue. Now he was rightfuly going to have to pay the price for it. 'Oh, Jesus Christ. I'm so sorry, Winona.'

'Do you have _any_ idea what it would do to me if I heard you get in trouble like that and I was all the way over here.' Winnie flung out her hand at the door. 'What it would make me feel if you were hurt and I could do nothing except sit on my ass and listen to that? Hearing you screaming or choking or-'

'Winnie-'

'No, you will fucking listen to me because I will only say this once.' Winnie got in his face, drilled her fingertip into his chest. 'If you ever, _ever_ say again that your life doesn't count or that you don't matter, you better fucking hope you die because if you don't I'll finish you off myself.'

'Winnie, I'm sorry, I fucked up, but- hey we're not done here!'

Spike's voice rose as she went to press the up-button for the door and he grabbed her shoulder to turn her around. He didn't like to get rough with her like this but damn if he was going to let her scold him like a naughty puppy.

'Winnie, I love you so much, and I know you love me which is why I have no problem saying this. You are not completely right.'

'Excuse me?'

'You have every right to be angry with me for saying what I said but not for risking my well-being. We are both cops, we knew that when we got together and there are going to be times when you have to hear the rough stuff-'

What if we had kids, Mike? Huh?' Tears threatened to clog her throat but Winnie made herself hold on. 'What if I heard you say that and we had kids at home waiting for you to come home safely, just like me? Would you completely void their value too?'

'You are valuable, Winnie, how can you think you're not?'

'You are in the field, dealing with the rough stuff and I'm on the sidelines listening to it. I'm not slaying the dragons, I patch up your war-wounds so you can do it all again.' Winnie broke off, slumped into a nearby chair. She stared hard at the floor as her eyes burned from held-back tears. 'My mother was right, I'm nothing buta secretary.'

'Alright, that's it.' Spike waved his hands, shook his head as he sat down across from her. 'We are way off topic from why you're pissed at me.'

'No we're not,' she replied. 'It's all related. You are a cop, a single-minded civil servant who only thinks about one thing. Saving people's lives.'

'That's not true. Even before we got together, anytime I was on a bomb call that didn't go well, you know what always went through my mind? I hope Winnie knows that she is my whole heart.'

'Fucking Italian poet.'

Spike felt the ice around his terrified heart unfreeze a little. If she was calling him that, they were starting to look up. 'I love you, Winona Michelle Camden, and I am so sorry I said what I said.'

'Me too.'

'No, don't be sorry about what you said, just about your delivery. Remind me never to teach you how to box,' he laughed as he drew her in for a reassuring hug; because he knew it would help break the mood down from tension to embarrassment. 'Does this mean we get to have make-up sex tonight?'

Winnie laughed a little, let herself cry a little. She buried her face in her hands, felt Spike's strong arms come around her body to hold her close. 'Thank you,' she whispered hoarsely. 'I love you so much.'

'I love you too.'

'Am I gonna look like a major bitch to everyone now?' Winnie scrubbed her heels under her eyes to swipe away any possible dripped mascara. 'Or will they tease you for getting a talking-to?'

'Oh, the second,' Spike laughed. 'I'm baby birdie, remember? And when baby birdie got his own lady birdie they had a field day with me.'

'Fair enough.' Winnie gave him a kiss, then went to open the door. The rest of Team One pretended to filter in, though she'd seen the quick scramble of boots as the door went up. She snagged her file from the table and went back to her desk to get the conference room projector set up.

Raf watched Winnie retreat, then looked at Spike as he took a seat beside his friend. 'What the hell was that about?'

'Just a little thing between us.'

'You mean the little thing where you said on the comm set your life didn't matter only the civilians, and your girlfriend gave you proper shit for it?' Leah asked innocently, making Spike flush beetroot red.

'You heard us?'

'The best part is that you'll probably get make-up sex tonight,' Sam pointed out. 'That's always fun.'

'In fact I think that's how this one got here,' Jules grinned, rubbing her belly where the baby was doing high-kicks. 'Right, Ed?' she added when he came in with the case file.

'How do you think Sophie and I got little Issy?' Ed said matter-of-factly. 'Put your glands on hold, Scarlatti, Winnie's already forgiven you so just keep it in your pants till your home. Or at the very least done with the briefing.'

* * *

They went to Winnie's place, not only because she hadn't been there in about three nights but also because Spike knew it would give her back a sense of control. Both of them knew just how easily that situation with the chemical agents could have escalated and neither of them were in a mood to fight more after Winnie had kicked his ass left and right.

Here was a neutral zone for their resolved fight, or mostly resolved fight. The land of pizza and wine and massages and music, and of course the far-famed make-up sex.

Winnie poured them each a drink - gin and juice for herself, beer for Spike - and as Amy Winehouse crooned on the stereo about going back to black, she sat on the couch, body slumped against Spike's while he reclined against the cushions.

'I still can't believe I got physical with you like that,' she sighed, draining the last of her drink.

'Of course, now I wanna get physical with you.' Spike shoved Winnie's loose black hair off her neck, kissed the soft caramel skin he found there. He put aside his empty beer glass so he could give his task its due attention. 'In a much nicer and naughtier way.'

Winnie sighed, arched her back a little. This was what she needed to feel better, the connection of body and soul with her man. It never failed to alleviate her worries. 'Mmm, I like that.'

'Yeah? Then you're gonna love this.'

Spike nipped her earlobe as his hands snaked under her loose top, but rather than closing over her breasts, his fingertips ran along the lace edging of her bra to tease the skin. He felt her shiver in anticipation, so he found the sweet spot where her earlobe met her neck, planted a few kisses there while he moved to unfasten her bra for her. He felt his blood drain downwards when her hips wriggled against him. Soon, he found himself face to face with her; she'd twisted them around so she was straddling him. With her eyes on his face the whole time, she pull her shirt over her head along with her loosened bra, tossed them aside so she was bare-breasted for him. She took his hands in hers, kissing his fingertips, then moistened them with her tongue before pressing them to her breasts.

Winnie shuddered as she felt him begin to massage and squeeze her breasts; her nipples went hard as the pads of his thumbs found the little buds of sensitive flesh. She let out a low moan, rocking her hips in pleasure. The man truly still had no idea how much she felt with his hands on her like this, what he made her feel like - a princess, a goddess, the most powerful woman in the world. All because she was a strong beautiful independent woman who had learned that the love of a man like him wasn't something that was found every day and made her treasure it all the more.

Then all thoughts were gone from her mind when Spike reared up and traced his tongue between the valley of her breasts. His name was a strangled cry in her throat she just barely managed to get out. 'Mike, oh...oh yes, baby.'

'Mmm, we've barely started,' he murmured as he breathed deep the scent of her skin. He loved that smell, it was a hot date and home all in one. 'You'll barely remember your name once we're done tonight, babe.'

'Good.'

Winnie smiled at him, a witchy, seductive look that made Spike think of Caribbean voodoo priestesses, and for a moment he had a flash of Winnie dressed as a Roman goddess in white silk that billowed and clung to every sinful curve of her body. Venus, perhaps, riding the ocean waves wearing nothing but her smile for cover. He kissed the tender swells of her breasts before moving to close his mouth over the tip of the right one, suckling and laving its peak with the rigid tip of his tongue. He heard her cry out, then moan deeply so he moved to the other one to give it the same treatment, until he found her hips pressing and hitchin gagainst him.

'What is it,' he asked her.

'Naked,' was all she could get out. 'I want to be naked with you.'

'Yeah, yeah.'

With no little skill, Spike manoeuvred them so he was on top now, pulling her sleep-pants and lacy panties down her body before slipping out of his own sleep shorts so they were naked on her living room couch. He pressed himself hard between her thighs, felt the near-soaking wet there; deliberately, he licked his lips before lowering his mouth a whisper from hers. 'You'll beg me for it later, won't you?'

'Yes,' she sighed, knowing she was nearly begging for his touch now. She craved it on a primal level, and knew Spike well enough that he would make it last and last, torturing her exquisitely until when he buried himself inside her would all but be putting her out of her misery. 'Yes, I will Mike.'

'Good.'

With that, Spike fell in earnest on her body, mouth crushing against hers as his hands touched her everywhere, kneading and stroking to wake every last inch of her skin. He kept his eyes, dark and lustful, on her face as he rested back a moment on his knees, unashamed of how hard he was for her; he loved how her eyes went a little wide and greedy at how big he was. With a delicacy he knew the moment called for, Spike circled Winnie's slender ankle with his fingers, propped it on the back of the sofa, nudged her left leg outward so her toes pointed down towards the floor and she was opened wide for him.

Winnie wanted to feel his mouth between her thighs, she loved the sensation of it as he delved into the secret places he always managed to find. But when she felt his fingertips trace up the inside of her right thigh, she knew that would come later - no pun intended - as he stroked her skin, back and forth, back and forth, each pass a little higher and higher. Finally, when she thought she might already have to beg, Winnie closed her eyes as she felt him slip one finger, then two inside her to stroke her long and deep. She moaned his name, drawing out each syllable as best she could, before she propped herself to her elbows to watch him. Without saying a word, she slipped her hand down with his, and she felt him withdraw a single finger so she could add one of her own.

The look on her face was pure magic, Spike thought, as he watched both their fingers slide in and out of her, each pass making Winnie moan more and more. She was absolutely gone, lost on her own desires, giving herself over to everything she felt and leaving behind everything she'd thought that day. There was only the two of them, here and now. He watched her head roll back as she slumped back against the cushions, hips arching up as he pleasured her, or as they both did.

'Mike.' She breathed out his name. 'Watch me.'

'Watch you?'

'Mmm.'

Spike slowed his speed as he did indeed watch her, touching her breasts, kneading and pushing them together. He nearly swallowed his own tongue when he watched her seductively bend her head to kiss the flushed skin, her tongue darting out to taste one nipple, then the other. 'Do that again,' he ordered her; when Winnie did so again, Spike groaned. 'You're gonna make me pop already darling and you haven't even gone once yet.'

'Wanna watch me again?' Winnie had no idea where the confidence to do so came from; she'd never been own to show off her self-love skills for a boyfriend before. Then again, they hadn't been Michelangelo Scarlatti making her feel this way. At his entranced head nodded, she slipped her hand downwards, stroking herself. She closed her eyes out of reflex, head rolling to the side as she began to come on a moaning cry. When she finally felt her system go lax, she opened her eyes to see Spike looking like he might have an aneurysm.

'Mike-'

It was as far as she got before she found him crushing his lips to hers, hips grinding against her in a deliciously just-rough-enough friction. 'Winnie, don't make me fucking wait any more,' he pleaded with her.

'No.'

Without a second thought, Spike lifted her hips and drove himself deep inside her. His hands held fast to her as he thrusts were hard at first, then deepening into a slow, pleasurable grind, the kind designed to draw the action out. Spike felt her come once, an almost sudden surprise at his movements.

Winnie arched with him, body moving to match his rhythm. Yes, oh god yes, this was exactly what she wanted - deep, slow fucking to just obliterate everything that had weighed heavily on her mind. The first orgasm he gave her was a nice delicious pop of pleasure, but this time, it would be towering, the kind to make her cry if she were the type to weep during sex. Hell, tonight, she just might be.

Spike felt the rise and fall inside himself, the kind needed to make this type of loving as intense and long-lasting as he could. It wasn't that he'd had the intention to fuck his girlfriend in such a fashion tonight - he'd wanted to make love with her, like the first time they'd been together like this. Apparently, this was what they needed and sometimes that was what mattered more. Then her voice, pure and sweet, was bringing him back to the moment.

'Mike,' she moaned, 'please...'

'Please what?'

'Please, make me come again.'

Spike kissed her, changed his rhythm so each stroke was a little faster and faster until she was all but screaming for him to never stop. Finally, when he could take no more, he pressed his face against her throat and let himself orgasm inside her, every last bit of himself draining into oblivion.

They lay tangled together, a sweaty satisfied meld of limbs for at least three more songs on the stereo, neither of them moving. Finally Winnie summoned the brain power to tell her hand to move up to stroke Spike's head.

'Mike?'

'Mmm?'

'What's my name again?'

Spike chuckled as he listened to her heartbeat. 'You're Winnie, I think I'm Spike, but seeing you touch yourself like that fried some circuits so I coudl be wrong.'

'You're Spike,' she reassured him, 'and you are the man. You are _my_ man, and you know what?'

'Oh let me guess. You want pizza?' When Winnie stayed silent, Spike turned his head to see her wrinkling her nose with a guilty smile. 'Isn't it like one am?'

'Barely midnight and Boston Pizza on Parkview does take out until two.'

'Alright, I suppose since you did just...' Spike trailed off, gave her a juicy kiss. 'Fuck my brains out, we deserve a snack.'

'I thought you did that to me?'

'We did it to each other, and it seems to have cleansed the house of the demons. Large spicy pirogi?'

'Extra onions.'

'You got it.'


	47. Sugar, Sugar

'Hey Winnie, you got a second?'

Winnie looked up from her paperwork, saw a rather bashful looking Ed Lane standing at her counter, resting his forearms on the stone. 'Hi,' she said in a confused tone; Ed was not one to stop by for a little chat like this, at least not when they were at the station. 'What's going on?'

'I need to ask a favour.'

'A favour?'

'Yeah.' Ed blew out a breath on a guilty smile. 'Do you think you'd be able to watch Issy this weekend for me and Sophie?'

'Excuse me?'

'Clarke's in the symphony at university, they've got a major performance in Ottawa and our nanny canceled on us. We still have the tickets to drive up and see him perform, and Clarke being Clarke is gonna be very thrilled to see his parents making the trip.'

'Okay, okay,' Winnie laughed, held up her hands. 'I get the picture. And lucky for you I have my two days off this weekend, and I'm finishing my short-shift on days tomorrow. When are you leaving?'

'Tomorrow after shift, we're driving out, then spending Saturday in the city taking in the sights of the nation's capital, Saturday night symphony, driving back Sunday morning.'

'The whole weekend, huh?' Winnie pursed her lips.

'I'd owe you a big one, Win, just name it.'

'Drive me and Spike to the airport and pick us up when we go to Italy,' Winnie replied without a moment's hesitation.

'And I'll check on your guys' place while you're gone. Collect your mail, water the plants, whatever you need,' Ed added with a rush gratitude.

'Places,' Winnie corrected him. 'I still have my apartment.'

'Why?'

'Because we aren't ready to live together yet,' she replied on a laugh. 'Ed, we've only been together about five months, it's kinda soon to think about sharing spaces to live, no?'

'I suppose so. I mean you guys move like turtles with every other part of your relationship so I suppose that should be no different.'

'Insulting your last-minute nanny is a really bad idea. I could be tempted to load Issy up with sugar and then send her home to you on a glucose high.'

'Thank you Winnie,' Ed replied in a teasing sing-song, the kind that made Winnie giggle and remember that as tough as this guy was he was also a very dedicated father and husband. It was fun to see that softie-side of Ed that so very rarely peeked through. 'I'll tell Sophie to email you with the details.'

'Sounds good.'

Ed nodded, bumped his fist on her counter, then sauntered away presumably to call Sophie just as Spike came wandering up He greeted her with a grin, pointed to Ed. 'Lemme guess, he did it?'

'Asked me to babysit Issy this weekend? Sure did, and- wait how did you know?'

'He was bitching about it in the gym, how he was getting annoyed with the nanny they are currently using and are thinking of hiring someone new.'

'Sophie's catering gig is taking up a lot of time, huh?'

'In a good way, he says, because it means that they'll be able to keep putting into Issy's tuition trust and give Clarke a little gift at the end of his school year if he keeps his grades up.' Spike shrugged. 'Anything we can do to help him out in a jam is great.'

'We?' Winnie looked at him, curious. 'What means 'we', are you French now instead of Italian? He asked me to look after her.'

'And if you think I'm going to let this opportunity slip by for Ed to owe me one since we did it together-' Spike took her hand, gave her knuckles a little graze with his lips '-you are not the keen investigator I took you for.'

'Oh, trust me, I already took care of that,' Winnie replied in a sultry tone. 'Guess who is giving us a ride to the airport and back when we go to Italy, and is looking after the mail and houseplants for both our places while we're gone?'

'That's my girl.'

'Of course, it does mean we can't have sex this weekend, as I'm not interested in being busted by a two-year-old and explaining how things work. Ed would make us walk home from Pearson,' Winnie reminded him, which had Spike nodding in agreement.

'Definitely. So...' This time he leaned in, got her full on the lips. 'We'll make it count tonight. When are you off shift?'

'In about an hour or so. We're staying at my place, though since we're spending the whole weekend chez you.'

'Fair enough.'

'Plus I need to ransack my DVD collection, see what I've got that would be appropriate for little eyes to watch,' Winnie laughed. 'Issy likes her toons.'

'That she does. I'll see you there.'

Winnie went to lean in for another kiss, then heard Holloran's voice around the corner so she backed off, gave him a wink instead. 'See you at home.'

* * *

The next afternoon, Spike was staring at his locker, trying not to be nervous while equally trying not to think of how major a stepping stone this was. For all intents and purposes, he was essentially being a crash-test-dummy for his girlfriend to see what kind of parent he might make. Spike had no problem thinking of things like that with Winnie, mostly because the idea of family and a future together with her didn't make him break into a cold sweat like it did with other girlfriends he'd had. Maybe that meant that feeling of 'no one else' wasn't just the early romance of being superficially in love but that he was moving towards what he wanted - a partner in crime for life.

It was comforting to think too it was a two way street - he'd get to see how Winnie was as a potential mommy. Being an insightful man with the kind of job he had, he knew human behaviour quite well and had a feeling that she'd take more influence from Rachel than from her bio-mom. Well not all of it - Spike could see that Gabriella did have her good qualities that Winnie had inherited; stubbornness and a refusal to give up was definitely at the top of the list. The difference was that Gabriella had used hers to stay in a place of bitterness while Winnie used hers to make herself a good cop.

Spike looked at the picture of himself and Winnie from the beach at Ed and Sophie's cottage, where they'd been helping little Issy build a sandcastle. He wondered how hard Winnie would laugh at him when she saw the little treat pack he'd put together for his young charge while staying at his place for the weekend. Either that or she'd turn completely buttery-melty and call him the sweetest ever. Probably, knowing her, it'd be somewhere up the middle.

'Alright, everything is taken care of for the day and it is time to go,' he muttered, closing the door and locking it tight. Shouldering his bag, Spike headed out to the desk to meet Winnie and wasn't at all surprised to see her at her desk. He did lift an eyebrow when he saw her in her street clothes and Issy already sitting on her lap, a pencil in her hand with Winnie guiding her little one.

'I-S-Sy-Y, that's your name.'

'Issy! Me Issy!' The little girl twisted in her seat to kiss Winnie's cheek. 'You Pin-Cess Winnie!'

'I'm Princess Winnie,' she laughed.

'Misser 'Pike!'

Winnie glanced up, grinned when she saw her man was smiling but the glint in his eye told her he was just as nervous as she was about their little house-guest for the weekend. 'Hey. I gave Eddie your keys to put Issy's booster seat into the truck, so we're just waiting for him to come and say goodbye.'

'Daddy an' Mama go see 'Larke. I too lid-dill,' she said on a small pout that evaporated when Winnie gave her a hug.

'You'll be big enough for some things soon enough. You're big enough to have a sleepover with me and Spike all on your own.'

This made Issy's mood brighten considerably, and she grabbed the paper she'd been colouring on, shoved it towards Spike. 'Look! We dawn!'

'You were drawing?' Spike looked at the colouring book sheet - it was a picture of an angel fish done in half in careful, co-ordinated stripes, the other half in scribbled green and yellow. At the bottom Winnie had signed her name and aided in to write hers. 'This is beautiful.'

'Put on fish-ator?'

'We can put it on the refrigerator,' he laughed. 'You ready to come to my house?'

'Uh-huh!' Issy bobbed her head, eyes bright and shiny. 'Be way fun. We have pizza?'

'Maybe, if you're good.'

'I goo',' Issy promised, even making a little cross over her heart. 'I no lid-dill mosser.'

'No, you're not a little monster.' God she was cute, Spike thought, which would make it much easier this weekend even if she did have a nightmare or a tantrum of any kind.

'Daddy!'

Spike glanced over his shoulder, saw Ed returning with Winnie's keys and brushing fresh snow from his shoulders. 'You guys better get on the road so you're not stuck in traffic or worse on the 401 east.'

'Yeah, weather braniacs said we'll drive out of it by Pickering, Ed replied, rounding the counter to give his daughter a hug. 'Bye sweetie, you be good this weekend for Miss Winnie-'

'Pin-cess Winnie, Daddy.'

'Princess Winnie and Mister Spike,' he agreed. 'They are the boss so you listen when they say for you to do things, okay?'

'Call say nigh'-nigh'?'

'We'll call to say night-night.'

'O-kay.' Issy gave her father three quick kisses in a row, followed with a squeezing hug. ' 'Tay safe, Daddy. Love you!'

'Love you too, baby girl.'

Winnie wasn't surprised when Issy cuddled close, hooked her finger in her mouth as she watched her father head out the door, gave a little sniffle. 'Hey, it's okay to miss your daddy and mommy a little Issy but you know what?'

'Wha'?'

'We are going to have so much fun this weekend. You are going to come shopping with me for some Christmas things, and we are going to bake, and go to the park, maybe even build a snowman in the backyard.'

'Ooo, tha' be fun!'

'And I think there might be a little surprise at home for you too,' Spike added with a wink that had Issy forgetting all about Ed and staring at her second favourite policeman.

'Suh-pise fo' me?'

'Oh yeah.'

'Mike, what did you do?' Winnie asked him as she helped Issy to her feet so she could put the little girl's coat on for her.

'You'll see.'

* * *

When they reached Spike's townhouse, Winnie wasn't at all surprised to see the bouquet of tulips, Winnie's favourite flowers, on the table beside a little basket with a card that said 'For Miss Issy'. It was part of that European thing, she thought, that he always wanted to make sure his guests, whether they were two or sixty-two feel welcome.

'Tha' fo' me?' Issy asked breathlessly as Winnie tried to steer her towards the stairs so she could sit down to get her snow-things off. 'Misser 'Pike, I see 'tuff!'

'That's for you,' he agreed, 'that's your stuff.'

'I see soon?' Issy asked Winnie.

'As soon as your boots and things are off.

With what Spike considered enormous patience for a two-year-old, Issy wiggled on the spot until she was free of her snowsuit; she was off like a shot and climbing onto the kitchen chair to inspect the package. 'Ooo, nea'o!'

'It's neato?' Winnie laughed, saw her tucking the chair closer with her feet so she wouldn't risk falling and hurting herself. Smart girl, she thought. 'What's Mister Spike surprised you with?'

'Lossa 'tuff!'

'Lotsa stuff?'

Winnie moved closer, saw indeed Spike had surprised her with stuff - there was a Beanie-Baby butterfly, a package of crayons with a travel-sized colouring book, a gift card for Bulk-Barn, a set of little-kid travel-soaps, a funky looking washcloth and best of all a DVD copy of _Fantasia_. 'You are one lucky little girl,' she told Issy genuinely, then looked back at Spike with a shake of her head.

'She's never been away from home like this on her own, I figured she'd like a little something,' he replied sheepishly.

'Misser 'Pike, big tanks!' Issy scooted off her chair, toddled over to wrap her arms around his legs. 'Big tanks.'

'Big welcome,' he told her. 'You hungry?'

'Mmm, uh-huh!'

'What would you like to have for supper?'

'Mmm...' Issy scrunched her face up in thought. 'Fishie ships! Wit' 'law!'

'Fish and chips with coleslaw?'

'See-boo-pay!'

'Alright my little linguist,' Spike laughed. 'Why don't you and Winnie take your things upstairs and I will get started on supper?'

'O-kay!'

Issy gave Spike one more hug, then grabbed Winnie's hand to go with her upstairs. Winnie grabbed Issy's overnight bag on the way, showed her to the guest bedroom where her heart melted a little more - Spike had gotten some plain blue and yellow linens for the single-bed in the second room; he'd folded up his treadmill and put his weight-bag in the closet for Issy to have more room. Nothing to good for their little guest of honour, she thought on a grin.

'Here we are.'

'Winnie, where my fi-fi?'

'Fi-fi?'

'Ooo, goddit!' Issy reached into her suitcase which Winnie had unzipped, grabbed her favourite little stuffed animal - what Winnie originally thought was some kind of weird Japanese kaiju bug was actually a firefly. 'Suppah soon'

'Soon, Mister Spike has to finish making it.'

'Like Miss Shoos bee-bee.' Issy patted her stomach.

'Yes she has to finish making the baby too,' Winnie laughed, then nearly swallowed her tongue when Issy innocently asked, 'When you beebee ready?'

'Oh, no, no babies for us yet.'

'Soon?'

'not for a little while, sweetie. Spike and I don't even live together yet.'

'You goo' mama,' Issy decided with a little affirming nod. 'You nice.'

'I'm a good mama because I'm nice? Well that is very nice to hear.' Winnie spotted the Pull-Ups, looked at Issy. 'You need a fresh bum, sweetie?'

'No, I big gull!' Issy gave a little wiggle, smiled as she held her firefly tight. 'No icky bum. Where Misser 'Pike?'

'He's downstairs looking after supper.'

'Less go!'

Issy jumped up, grabbing Winnie's hand and hustling her towards the stairs; when they reached the landing Issy automatically shrunk down and went down each stair on her bottom, letting out a little 'oof!' with each pass. 'I be cay-fo,' she informed Winnie regally, making the woman laugh.

'You sure are, little miss. You're very smart.'

' 'Mart, 'mart, 'mart,' she chirped, then sniffed the air like a tracker dog. 'Ooo, yummy!'

'It does smell yummy,' Winnie agreed, walking over to give Spike a hug where he stood at the stove. 'Fish and chips?'

'Chips are in the oven, and I am working on the fish, just like you showed me,' he replied with a grin. 'Issy, have you tried crispy fish before?'

'Uh-huh! Mama make da-dock!'

'Haddock, huh? Well you are in luck because that's what I'm making too!'

'Yea!' Issy clapped her hands together, then looked around. 'No see share! Where I sit?'

'We are going to eat in the living room tonight, because Winnie-'

'Pin-cess Winnie!'

'Princess Winnie,' Spike amended, trying not to laugh, 'wants to see part of the hockey game.'

'Boo-Shays!'

God this kid was a slice, Winnie thought as she found plates - two grown-up sized, one kid sized - along with cutlery for herself and Spike; Issy would get hers pre-done in bite-sized pieces. 'Not the Blue Jays, sweetie. That's baseball. We are cheering for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Can you say Penguin?'

'Pin-win!'

'Close enough,' she decided, then looked at Spike. 'Aren't we supposed to have family meals around the dinner table?'

'Tomorrow,' Spike promised. 'I left the booster seat in the truck and it's a snowstorm outside. We'll be lucky if we don't lose power tonight.'

'Which means we can't stay warm like we usually do.'

'What's with you this week?' Spike asked, sincerely confused. 'You're, like, extra horny, which is great I'm all for it but seriously-'

'It's my birth control,' she muttered back. 'I've had a spike in my hormones because of ovulation so my brain is all swamped with naughty thoughts.'

'Oh.' Spike nodded. 'And having little miss here means you can't do that much about it.'

'Not really. Unless-'

'No,' he laughed. 'Behave. If I can make it through a dinner with your dad and step-mom while thinking about you naked in a hot-tub, you can handle this.'

'No moosh! Suppah!' Issy hollered when Winnie gave Spike a kiss.

'Yes, Issy, supper is on its way.'


	48. I Love You I Do II

'Misser 'Pike?'

'Nuh.'

Spike felt little fingers on his arm, squinted open one eye. 'Issy?' he asked in a sleep-filled blur, his vision unfocused. 'Issat you?'

'Mo-nin' Misser 'Pike!'

'What time is it?'

Issy giggled, then tried to tug the duvet out from under Spike's arm. 'Time get up!'

He reached for his phone; this time his moan was far louder. It was barely seven in the morning - didn't small children need more sleep? Or was he just complaining because he and Winnie had been up way too late last night? Probably the second one, he thought on a chuckle, then realized something very crucial.

'Issy, can you do me a favour?'

'Yes Misser 'Pike.' Issy's angelic face was round with early-morning energy.

'Can you go to your room and find me your firefly?'

'Okay!'

The moment Issy was out the door, Spike lifted up his duvet to root around for his shorts. That was one he would never _ever_ live down if Ed got wind of it, and since Issy had the trout-mouth most toddlers possessed he'd probably know about it before they left the house.

He'd made it to his bureau to find a t-shirt when Issy returned with her stuffi-toy, holding it out to him triumphantly. 'Got 'im!' she anounced, which had Spike holding his finger to his lips.

'Shhh, Princess Winnie is still sleeping.'

'She 'noozy?'

'Yeah, she's snoozy,' he agreed, pulling on an Italian national team soccer shirt. 'She worked a lot this week, so we are going to surprise her with breakfast in bed.'

'Pan'akes? Bacon?'

'You think she'd like pancakes and bacon?'

'Umm...yes,' Issy decided after a look at the bed. 'Pin-cess Winnie pan'akes.'

'Alright. Let's hit the kitchen and fix her up something.'

Issy needed no further encouragement - she grabbed Spike's fingers and all but dragged him to the stairs where she bump-bumped her way to the bottom on her behind, Spike's much longer legs trying to keep up. Once they hit the kitchen, she dragged over a chair to the kitchen counter, then boosted herself up to have a seat and look around.

'Wha' now?' she asked brightly. 'We do pan'akes?'

'Yep. We will be using Princess Winnie's recipe, and she likes hers with coconut and chocolate chips.'

'Cho'lat ships? Fo' bik-fas'?' Issy looked like Spike had told her they were going blow their noses on hundred-dollar-bills. 'We 'llowed?'

'Yes we're allowed, because it is a special weekend. But we have to have our veggies at lunch.'

'Ewie.'

'No, you haven't had Princess Winnie's soup.' Spike winked at her as he found milk and eggs to add to the pre-made mix Winnie always kept handy. 'She makes tomato soup with these little ravioli and onions and carrots and yummy things that are good for our tummies.'

'No like veshies,' Issy pouted, kicking her heels on the lower cupboards.

'Issy, I can promise you Winnie can make anyone like their veggies. And we don't wanna upset Winnie and tell her that her soup is yucky, do we?'

It was emotional blackmail, no question, but Spike knew it was also a sign he was a good negotiator when he could talk down a toddler from a potential tantrum over food choices. He saw Issy's lower lip tremble, eyes threatening to fill up. 'I goo' girl,' she started, voice wobbling magnificently. 'No make Pincess Winnie sad!'

'Exactly.'

'Okay' She heaved a sigh, made a little frowny-face. 'I be goo'.'

'Awesome. Now how are you at handling a spoon?'

'I supah-good!'

'Outstanding.' Following the directions Winnie had taped to the side of the jar, Spike cracked eggs into the bowl and added the appropriate measure of milk. He fished a wooden spoon out of the crockpot by his coffee-maker, its smaller mate along with it and passed the smaller one to Issy. 'Ready?'

'Whee!'

Taking that for yes, Spike began to stir along with Issy, making the batter smooth as silk. 'Looks good, baby girl. Now, it's time for the fun part.'

'Ships?'

'That's right, the chocolate chips. Then...' Spike trailed off dramatically, 'the bacon.'

'Yum! Pin-cess Winnie be suh-pise!'

* * *

Winnie breathed deeply through her nose, let out a groan as she stretched her arms over her head. When her hands found the bed empty beside her, her immediate thought was _clothes_. Despite all her big talk, Spike had still gotten her naked and okay, they hadn't had sex exactly just fooled around a little but still there was a large enough lack of covering on her body that it would raise a few questions from Issy that Winnie just didn't want to answer.

She'd pulled on her tank top, found a pair of pants and was thinking about going to make Spike some coffee and find juice for herself when the sound of voices came through the door.

'Can you turn the doorknob, sweetheart?'

'I do it!'

There was a little metallic scraping, then the door creaked open and Issy crept in. She let out a dramatic gasp when shesaw Winnie at the bureau tying back her hair. 'No!'

'No?'

'No, Pin-cess Winnie, go back-a bed! Haffa suh-pise!'

Issy marched straight over, planted her little palms on Winnie's leg to nudge her in the right direction. 'Haffa be in bed,' she insisted.

'Okay.' All Winnie could do was laugh, so she obliged the tot and sat back down. The cloud of confusion lifted, her heart went to butter when she saw Spike come in with both hands full of a tray that undoubtedly had breakfast on it, hence Issy's hissy-fit. She closed her eyes, inhaled deeply. 'Oh, are those pancakes I smell?'

'Pan'akes wit' cho'late ships!' Issy crowed in triumph. 'They so yummy!'

'Issy insisted on trying one to make sure I did a good enough job,' Spike explained, and Winnie nodded conspiratorially.

'Well, that's always a good idea, make sure you're not serving something gross'

'No 'ross,' Issy agreed, watching Winnie like a hawk and the woman cut into the first of her three pancakes. 'Yum-yum!'

'Yum-yum is right,' she agreed; Spike had used her homemade mix, used the real butter and not margarine to cook the pancakes. They tasted like little chocolate-wheat bites of heaven and oh glory-be, there was even a few slices of her beloved turkey bacon and a glass of juice. 'Thank you very much, you guys, this is just wonderful.'

'Misser 'Pike say you work lossa,' Issy replied.

'I have been because you know what?'

'Wha' ?'

'We are going on a trip and I want to work as much as I can now so I have lotsa money to take on my trip.'

'Gonna zoom zoom in car?'

'No,' Winnie shook her head, made her voice a breathless and dramatic whisper. 'We are going in an airplane across the ocean.'

'Wow! See Miss Shoos beebee?'

'Yep, we'll be here when the baby is born,' Spike reassured her. 'Why are you so excited

'Ah-_cause_,' Issy told him in her best 'well, duh' voice, 'I no be so lid-dill! I be big fin!'

'Oh, you'll be the big friend.' Winnie shoveled in more pancakes, chewed thoughtfully. 'Well, my birthday is in September, my sister's is in July, and my brother's is in October, so I understand wanting to feel that way every now and then.'

'Your birthday is in August, isn't it sweetie?' Spike asked Issy and she nodded.

'Aw-gus fi-teen!'

'August fifteen, I remember that.'

'Me burt-day. When you' burt-day, Misser 'Pike?'

'Mine is in April,' he told her, trying to steal a little of Winnie's bacon and failing when she gave his fingers a little swat. 'Hey, no hitting!'

'Be nice, Pin-cess Winnie.'

'Of course. So how are things looking outside, is it good snowman weather?'

'Relax, it's barely nine am, we have time,' Spike told her, then scooped up Issy. 'This one had me up about two hours ago. She's an early bird.'

'Well, maybe...' Winnie trailed off, narrowed her eyes playfully at her audience.

'Mee-bee?' Issy prompted her.

'Maybe we might do a little baking before we play outside so that way when we come in and it's time for a warm-up, we have fresh cookies waiting for us.'

'Cookies?' Issy's ears practically twitched. 'Wha' kinds?'

'Well, there is oatmeal and chocolate chip cinnamon, and some biscotti too.'

'What bissy-tees?'

'Those are Italian cookies, my favourite,' Spike told her. 'When we go to Italy to visit my family, we'll have some real homemade Italian biscotti.'

'Pin-cess Winnie, where you' fam-ee fuh-rom?' Issy asked suddenly.

'My daddy is from a place called Aruba, so he is Dutch and my mama is something called Metis, which means she is part French and part Huron.'

'Wha' cookies they make?'

'Hmm, well, there are these great Dutch cookies called pepernoten, they are a spice cookie. Why do you ask?'

'Ah-cause Misser 'Pike, he 'Tal-ee-in, so he like bissy-tee. You haffa pish-al cookie too!'

'I don't know if I have a recipe,' Winnie ventured, just to see what Issy would say; the girl was a comedy pinata, a gift that kept on giving.

'You haffa co-poop-per?'

'Yes I have a computer.'

'Google see'em!' Issy told her. 'Mama use Google all-time!'

Spike grinned - he couldn't help it, Issy was just hysterical in her precious and precocious worldly observations. 'Tell you what, why don't we let Winnie finish eating and we can go find a recipe for her to use?'

'Whee! No! Wai'!'

'What is it?'

'Moosh Pin-cess Winnie!'

'If you insist.' Spike leaned over, and despite the fact that Winnie had a full mouth, he kissed her square on the lips. 'There, that better?'

'Whee!' Issy clapped joyously then scooted off the bed. 'Cooke time!'

* * *

By three pm Winnie had new-found respect for Sophie and Ed. As charming as Issy was, she was a handful, no question - curious and inquisitive often came with sky-high levels of energy that needed playtime to burn it off, pure and simple. They spent nearly three hours in the backyard, making angels and a snow-fort, and a snowman that Issy insisted they call 'Miss Shoos' because of its resemblance to their friend's pregnant belly. When Winnie told her it was lunch time, the girl showed no signs of slowing down, dutifully obeying Spike and Winnie which definitely made her rambunctious nature easier to handle. She'd even been a good little muncher when she'd delicately gobbled up the promised tomato-veggie and ravioli soup with a grilled cheese on the side.

Once her belly was full, they'd considered going back outside for a walk to Cobs' bakery near Spike's house at Kensington Market but the wind had kicked up once more so they instead had dessert at home - Winnie's far-famed cookies with earl grey lattes. As it was Winnie, she had decaf tea that was safe for Issy to drink; that child did not need anything else like caffeine to keep her batteries at maximum output.

'Dun-dun-dun.' Issy, fascinated with the yummy taste and odd shape of the biscotti, dipped it into her milky tea. She blew on it, then chomped down, chewing before she smiled. 'Oooo!'

'You like that one?' Spiek laughed, and Issy nodded vigorously.

'Yessir Misser 'Pike! It 'runshie an'-an'-an'- 'weet!'

'Crunchy and sweet? That's a good description.' Spike took a bite, let out a little moan. If Winnie could have baked her sex appeal into a cookie, this little gem was certainly it. 'Oh, yeah, so good.'

'These are pretty good too.' Winnie held up her peppernoten, wiggled her eyebrows. 'I could used these for bribing the guys at work.'

'You know who would really love those ones? Wordy.'

'Really?'

'Oh yeah. Guy's in great shape but he has a weakness for cookies.'

'We should have him and Shelley and the girls over for supper,' she considered. 'I'm sure Shelley's got to be appreciative of a night off from three daughters and a husband with a neurological condition.'

'True say,' Spike agreed, then caught Issy yawning. 'You sleeping, sweetie?'

'No! No 'noozy!' Issy protested indignantly. 'I big, no nee' nap.'

'Funny because I could use one.'

'But...but you big, Misser 'Pike!'

'Just because I'm big doesn't mean I don't get tired from playing or working,' he told her, watching as the little one processed the concept. 'And besides, we might be going out and staying up late tonight.'

'Really, Mike?' Winnie looked up from her tea, gave him an intrigued look. 'What are you thinking?'

'I'm thinking that since we've been stuck at home all day, if the weather isn't too bad we might go to the movies tonight.'

'Moo-vie, moo-vie!' Issy chanting, banging her palms lightly on the table with a fiendish grin. 'Wit pop'orn and fizzies!'

'Oh man, you done did it now,' Winnie laughed. 'What's playing?'

'I think our girl would like _Wreck-It Ralph_, don't you?'

'You just wanna see all the video-game characters without feeling guilty don't you?'

'We could take her to see a certain vampire movie that rhymes with 'Skylight', if you like instead,' Spike chuckled, watching how Winnie went as pale as paste. 'Or _Lincoln_, maybe _Silver Linings Playbook. _That would teach Issy a few new phrases Ed and Sophie would love to hear her say.'

'_Wreck-It Ralph_ it is. What time?'

'One moment.' Spike pulled out his phone from his pocket, saw Issy leaning closer. 'What's up?'

'I pusha but-ton see-boo-pay?'

'Sure. We want that one.' He held out his phone, pointing to the Cineplex app, smiling when she tapped the screen. 'Now that one,' he added, pointing to his favourite theatre. 'This gives us a list of what times the movies start.'

'Nap now?'

'Soon, we need to let our tummies digested a little more.'

'Wha' tha?' Issy cocked her head to the side. 'Wha' 'die-shish' mean?'

'That means our tummies turn our food into energy and vitamins so we stay strong and healthy,' Winnie supplied, enjoying the teacher-pupil moment between her man and her charge. 'And that means when we wake up we won't feel sick.'

'No sick!' Issy's eyes went wide, and she shook her head so her blondie-brown curls bobbed back and forth. 'No sick, missin' fun!'

'That's right, no being sick. Are you finished with your tea, Issy?'

'Mmm...' Issy picked up her cup, sipped once more. 'All-done! Now we dawn, an' noozin'!'

'Sure, we can draw then we'll snooze,' Winnie agreed.

'You 'nooze too?'

'Of course,' Winnie agreed, then pursed her lips in thought. 'How about you and Spike do some drawing? I'm going to work on a little treat for nap-time.'

'Misser 'Pike, what 'reat?' Issy immediately asked as Winnie cleared their dishes and headed upstairs to find her laptop. 'She say you?'

'Nope, she didn't say a word to me. Where are you crayons?'

'I find!'

Half an hour later, after Spike had helped Issy created an underwater fantasy in colours so bright they could be mistaken for an acid trip, he saw her crayon-strokes slow, her head begin to bob. 'Issy,' he said quietly. 'It's nap time now, darling.'

'Ooooohhhhh-keeee,' Issy replied on a giant yawn; she held her arms up and Spike scooped her up to take her upstairs to her room. When he got there, he saw Winnie fussing with his iPod dock, muttering to herself.

'Lousy piece of-'

'Winnie, our sleeping beauty finally zoned out.'

She looked over, cutting herself off mid-curse, nodded. 'Yep, I'll tuck her in.'

'Nooooo,' Issy moaned softly coming too as Spike laid her on the bed. 'No' 'noozy!'

'Oh, we're not going to sleep,' Winnie said cheerfully in a tone Spike had heard her use when she was pretending to go along with someone's idea she thought was completely asinine. 'We're just going to cuddle and listen to a story.'

'Like 'tory time.'

'Me too. This one is a group of stories by Miss Beatrix Potter, she writes about animals. She especially likes bunnies.'

'Fuffies?'

'Yes, fluffies,' Winnie said, sliding onto the bed to snuggle in beside Issy so that her body created a natural safety barrier.

'Fuffies go hop hop.'

'They do they go hop-hop-hop!' She pursed her fingers, made them dance up and down Issy's arm. Her smiled widened when Issy mimicked the move.

'Hop-hop! Hop-hop!'

'Alright my two hippity-hoppers, get some rest,' Spike told them, then leaned in to give them both kisses; once he was gone, Issy curled up close to Winnie.

'Sss,' she whispered, holding her finger to her lips. ' 'Tory time?'

'You betcha.' Winnie pushed play on the iPod stereo's remote, adjusted the volume as the sweet-voiced narrator began to tell them the story of the Tailor of Gloucester. Her heart melted a little when Issy tucked her thumb lightly between her lips, the other hand grabbing a soft hold of Winnie's shirt. 'Cozy?'

'Mmm-hmm.'

'Okay.' She wrapped her arms around Issy, felt the girl's breath slow until she was out once more. 'Sweet dreams, baby girl.'


	49. Single Ladies

'Hey Leah, you have a minute?'

Leah looked up from where she was changing at her locker for her end-of-shift workout, saw Winnie coming in still wearing her cool-pants and black shirt. She'd been on tech-and-info in the command truck with them on their call today, doing her search-and-destroy thing. No wonder she was such a good match for Spike, they were both computer nerds who had that awesome intuition about the digital world.

But the look in Winnie's eyes was one not of success but distress. She'd seen that look before and knew there was only one way to get it.

'Problems with Spike?'

'No, just...' Winnie bit her bottom lip, shook her head. 'It's nothing, forget it.'

'Winnie, remember what we said a little while ago about the whole not-leaving-you-alone thing? Come on, what's going on?'

'He's...I've got plans with some university friends tomorrow night, and none of us are bringing our significant others, it's just us.'

'Okay, well that makes sense, I mean, you have to have your own life with your friends, right?'

'One of the people attending is an ex-boyfriend.'

'Oh.' Leah pursed her lips, nodded slowly. 'I see.'

'Exactly, Spike is getting all pissy and weird.' Winnie yanked open her locker, pulling off her clothes in favour of workout gear in short jerking movements. 'He's conveniently forgetting that he never told me Natalie fucking Braddock of all people knew about his spare he and they had a mi-casa-su-casa policy even after we'd been dating for three months.'

'Did you sleep with this guy from before?'

She nodded bashfully. 'He was a fling that helped me deal with my dad dating Rachel. We broke it off when I made it clear to him I wanted the police academy after graduation and he was talking about us having kids and getting married and shit like that.'

'Maybe that's it. Spike never slept with Natalie-'

'How do you know that?' Winnie asked in total shock.

'Natalie told me,' Leah replied, trying to smother a laugh; Winnie needed support, not insult right now. 'Anyways, point being they just dated but you and this other guy...what's his name?'

'Justin.'

'You and this mystery Justin guy, well, he got to see you naked and in my experience guys are very picky about that. They like to think they have you all to themselves.'

'Spike _does_ have me all to himself, and if that were true, why do most guys freak out then when they find out you're a virgin over the age of twenty?'

'Because the universe is a twisted place and men's minds even more so. Is it the guy who tried to make you look like you'd done some x-rated movies?'

'No, no, that guy ended up in prison a few years ago for trafficking illicit materials,' Winnie replied on a grin. 'He got his karmic retribution, the kind I'd prefer not to have bite me in the ass.'

'Consider this.' Leah went to the sink to fill her waterbottle. 'Perhaps this is the universe giving Spike a little payback?'

'How?'

'Well you said he failed to mention Natalie being allowed to crash on his couch. Maybe this is the universe going, not to worry girlfriend, we got you covered.'

'Except I'm not inviting Justin back to my place for a quick shag for the sake of remember-when.'

'You trust Spike without question, and you feel that trust go shaky when Big-Tits Braddock showed up. Now he feels a little shaky over his trust in you. Not to say that you don't have a strong relationship, obviously you do. It's just human nature to feel doubts and be reminded that you could lose this person to someone else.'

'Spike would never lose me,' Winnie spluttered, feeling worse when she'd hoped talking to Leah would make her feel better. 'Now I don't even wanna go at all.'

'Oh, Winnie, no no, that's not what I meant. Shit.' Leah dragged her hand over her face. 'It's...people like us, negotiators I mean, we have to delve into the bad parts of people's history and we have to ask a tonne of questions about it, what could be stressors or triggers for their current very bad day. When we're with our loved ones, it's a chore to clamp down on that because it's our instinct to ask questions. Sometimes those questions are very brutal and very personal.'

'Like, what, was Justin better in bed than him or something?'

'Questions like that are hard to hear and we don't like having to ask them of our loved ones because they're the people we rely on to keep us doing our jobs.'

Winnie nodded contemplatively. Put like that, it did indeed make sense but she hoped that Spike was a big enough man to understand that this was nothing more than seeing old friends and talking about how stupid they were as kids. On the other hand, if he acted like an ass, he was very good with the make-up sex thing. 'Thanks Leah. See you out there.'

* * *

'Call me when you get home, okay? I don't wanna spend my night worrying about you.'

'Mike we're going to a bar downtown for wings, beer-pong and pool. Maybe we might get nuts and have some things like cheesy-bacon Tater-Tots, or deep-fried Oreos.' Winnie glanced up, saw she'd arrived at her destination. 'Look I gotta go, I'm here. If it's an emergency and you need me, text.'

'Text?'

'Yep, I'll have my phone tucked in my front pocket so it'll make me feel tingly for you.'

'Naughty. Love you.'

'Love you too.'

Winnie opened the door, looked around for her friend Dottie who'd arranged the evening. It would be only five of them including Winnie herself so she was sure that Dottie would have ensured they got a comfy spot on the couches near the beer-pong and pool tables. It also usually ensured better service.

As Winnie climbed the stairs she heard a loud 'Incoming!' and before she knew what to do with herself, she was bopped on the forehead by a ping-pong ball. Her reflexes kicked in and she grabbed the small plastic sphere just before it could swim down her top. She glanced up saw the man staring at her with muddy green eyes and a charming grin.

'You always did have good hands, honey-bear.'

'Justin.' Winnie didn't have to work to make the smile friendly; it was easy enough when she saw her old flame. He was still as handsome as ever, though his hair was shorter than it had been ten years prior. God, had it been that long since she'd seen him? She tossed him back the ping-pong ball, tugged absently on her smooth pony-tail. 'Good to see you.'

'And you, you're looking hot for an admin.'

'Admin?'

'Yeah, I ran into your mom in the grocery store, she said you're doing filing and paperwork for the cops these days. Always a bridesmaid, huh?'

'Not exactly,' Winnie said, her smile turning steel-edged. 'I'm a dispatcher for the Toronto SRU which means I'm putting that pesky little comp-sci degree to use.'

'Ah, reason one why we never worked,' Justin told her with a confident wink. 'You always insisted on having the last word, right or wrong.'

'Where is everyone else?'

But there was no need to ask - the words had no sooner left Winnie's lips than she saw tiny little Dottie, blonde and blue-eyed perfection with a trucker's mouth and liberal attitude on all matters relating to personal relationships. Her own personal Samantha Jones, and the only person she'd really kept in touch with since her university days. She'd been the first person that Winnie had confessed her crush on Spike too and Dottie had been eagerly awaiting the updates.

Of course, that Dottie had been out of the country since August, it had been making keeping in touch tricky - she'd gone on a three-month research trip to Africa for her latest children's book series _Animal Friends: Africa_. Winnie had a sneaking suspicion that most of the people here tonight would beg off early and they'd be left to get plastered on Skittle-bombs and domestic beer while she greased all the dirty details out of her.

'Hey girl!' Dottie beamed like a sun, and Winnie subtly shooed Justin away by turning around, thus giving him her back, to greet her friend.

'Dottie, it's so good to see you! You look amazing!'

'Three months of roughing it in Kenya on a game preserve will do that to you,' she laughed, patting her burnished cheeks. She clamped her hand on Winnie's wrist, dragged her over to the table where there were a few more of their crowd from university, but really, Winnie was only truly interested in two things - staying close to Dottie and keeping Justin at bay. 'Sit, sit, we're gonna get some food, disgusting greasy things I haven't had in ages.'

'How did you survive without French fries in Africa?'

'I made roasted sweet-potatoes in the oven,' Dottie replied, 'so I want real and true fries. And more news on you and Spike.'

'You have a boyfriend named Spike?' Across the table, Adrianna Reynolds, Dottie's roomie since they'd been in first-year, quirked an eyebrow as she sipped her martini. 'Isn't that someone you date to get your parents' attention?'

'Ignore her, she's bitchy because the last time she got laid was before I left for Nairobi. I'm surprised she's still breathing,' Dottie chided her, making Adrianna wrinkle her nose.

'Untrue. I always thought Winnie was the classy girl who'd marry a politician or a lawyer.'

'He's a cop,' Winnie said, in a shorter tone than she meant to use, 'and he's wonderful.'

'A cop named Spike. Does he have a pick-up truck or a motorcycle?'

'Truck.'

'Let's get you a drink.' Dottie shot her roomie a filthy look, poured Winnie a beer. 'So, how many of these is it gonna take for you to drunk-dial Michelangelo and tell him all the dirty things you want to do to him?'

'A lot,' Winnie laughed. 'I'm a lot higher tolerance than I was in university.'

'Fantastic.'

Dottie flagged the server for an extra round; the moment they'd arrived Dottie insisted Winnie have three to catch up. So, I wanna hear all about things with your man! Has he met your family yet?'

'Oh yeah. Daddy and Rachel love him, so does Aaron, but I wanna hear about you! How was Africa!'

'Oh, bla blah hot dry scary big fucking animals,' Dottie waved her off. 'We can talk about that over hangover lunch tomorrow. Tonight is about hearing about your new guy right from you.'

'Is he really hot?' Adrianna asked, then let out a whistle when Winnie showed her the picture of the two of them from her birthday. 'Sexy man!'

'Well of course she's gonna snag a hot guy,' Dottie chided her teasingly. She dug her fingers into Winnie's ribs, making Winnie squeal and Dottie grin salaciously. 'Do you squeal like that for him?'

'Oh Jesus.' Winnie grabbed the beer, poured herself a glass and downed nearly half in a quick gulp. 'He's the kind who makes you moan,' she replied, knowing how much Dottie loved this game.

'Nice.'

'Fuck if I wanted the Sex and the City treatment, I'd have stayed home with my girlfriend,' Justin groused, to which another of the girls at the table, Lindy rolled her eyes.

'So go home. You only came because you wanted to see Winnie.'

Justin snorted. 'Please. Winnie wishes we were still together.'

'Yeah, that's it,' Winnie chimed in, her voice dripping honeyed sarcasm. 'I'm just whiling away my life at the SRU, ignoring you for fourteen years because I never got over you.'

'See?'

'God what a fuck-wit,' Dottie muttered, making Winnie laugh. She raised her glass to her lips again, 'Remind me why I invited him?'

'Because you were overcome with a momentary lapse of nostalgia?'

'Right.'

'Okay, who's up for some pool!' Lindy clapped her hands, pointed at them around the table. 'Dottie, Winnie? Ass-hat?'

'Nah, I feel like catching up with my girl here.' Dottie gave Winnie a genuinely squeezing hug. 'But if the ass can hold a stick, I'm sure he'd love to.'

Justin pretended to glare before he openly leered at Winnie, then headed off with the others so Dottie and Winnie had the booth to themselves. 'What did I ever see in him?'

'He was the first guy you slept with that you knew it was just for the sex,' Dottie reminded her. 'You never shared things with him, you just wanted his uglies to bump yours.'

'True. Why is he so mean about something over so many years ago?'

'Maybe he never got over you.'

'Please,' Winnie snorted.

'Anyways, we're not wasting time on that shithead, I wanna hear more about Spike.' Dottie refilled their beer glasses. 'Like how he got that nickname.'

* * *

By shortly after midnight, Winnie was well on her way to being drunk. She knew herself well enough to understand when she was just buzzed versus flat-out drunk and she was definitely in the second category by now.

She was with it enough, however to know that Justin was giving her the juicy eye which made her both annoyed and embarrassed - he knew she was in a relationship, though he probably thought she was going on and on about the love of her life just to prove something to him. At least inside the bar there was a certainly level of distance she could keep but when he insisted on waiting outside with her for a cab she felt the slimy thing creep over her neck again being near him.

'So...' Justin drawled, looked her up and down, lingering just long enough on her breasts to be labeled gross. 'On a scale of green-light-single to picket fences, how serious is it with this Spike dude?'

'Very,' Winnie replied. 'We're going on a trip to Italy so I can meet his family.'

'He expecting you home tonight?'

'Why?'

Justin let his gaze wander over her body, lifted an eyebrow. '

'Let me get this straight.' Winnie felt the lovely buzz she'd carried the whole night harden like melting plastic suddenly yanked from its cozy little home. 'You belittle me and my career all night, then think because I've had some drinks I'll flush everything I have with my man down the toilet for the likes of you?'

'Winnie, babe, it's me, the best you've ever had.'

Winnie stepped closer. 'You know what?'

'What?'

'You're a dickhead.' Winnie snorted, giggled a little as she backed away from him. 'God I wish I'd said that back when we were dating, then maybe you wouldn't think you were such a catch. You're selfish and mean, and you are so full of yourself you have to put other people down because heaven forbid you might not be the best damn thing on the planet.'

'Big talk coming from a secretary for cops.'

Winnie didn't speak for a moment, just rooted around in her purse and pulled out her badge. 'Really, Justin? You think they let secretaries have badges? Or how about this?' She slipped out the photo she'd printed of her with Team One all in uniform. 'Yes, this is a secretary hard at work.'

'Winnie-'

'Don't fucking bother you arrogant prick. You haven't changed a bit since I last saw you twelve years ago, and if you think you're worth some cheap meaningless sex, you're absolutely right. That's _all _you are worth. I have a man who loves me in ways men like you are never capable of because they're afraid of missing out on something better. I am the best you ever had and you'll never get me again.'

With that, Winnie turned on her heel and stalked down the street a full three blocks to ensure he wasn't following her. The buzz was back, this time the awesome sensation of telling an ex-boyfriend everything she should have when they'd broken up, and more she knew exactly where she wanted to be right now. Thank God for speed-dial, a drunk must have invented that one, she thought on a snicker as she waited for the line to pick up.

'Hello my love.'

'Hello lover right back. I'm coming over but not for sex,' Winnie over-emphasized her words. 'I just wanna be near you.'

'I take it the ex was a tad slimy?'

'More than a tad, he was a toad.'

Spike laughed, opened the lid of his laptop to place an online order for pizza - Winnie would have it for breakfast if she thought she was gonna barf her brains out before bedtime. 'How many did you have?'

'Uh, I need my fingers to hold my phone and I've had too much to count on one hand.'

'So that means double cheese, double bacon on the pizza?'

'Oh I love you so much.'

'Love you too. See you soon.'


End file.
